CCASL – 20 Years and Beyond
By: Chris Wheatley
Two beat-up metal desks, a 286 computer with no mouse and a DOS operating system, three student employees and one established service program: humble beginnings for what would become the hub of volunteering and community engagement at Gonzaga! Twenty years later, the Center for Community Action and Service Learning (CCASL, pronounced “Castle”) has changed the lives of thousands of Gonzaga students and significantly impacted the Spokane community.
With passion and dedication, CCASL’s founder, Sima Thorpe, breathed life into the tiny department, establishing connections with non-profit organizations and community leaders to create service opportunities that transformed both students and the community. Today, CCASL has over 3,000 student volunteers and 100 student leaders who contribute over 75,000 hours of service to the local and national community. Together with Gonzaga staff and faculty, as well as over 100 community organizations, CCASL students address critical social needs and serve alongside the homeless, the elderly, at-risk youth, adults with developmental disabilities and many others.
To learn more about CCASL as it celebrates its 20th Year, visit www.gonzaga.edu/ccasl20th.
A major area of CCASL’s focus is addressing educational inequality through six mentoring and tutoring programs. 475 Gonzaga students work with over 650 at-risk youth from 13 public schools in Spokane. The youth receive academic and social support that boosts their self-esteem, enhances their academics and demystifies the college experience. Gonzaga students connect their experience to their academic and career pursuits, learning about themselves in the process. Spencer White (class of 2015) commented on this impact, saying, “CCASL has impacted my life in that it has coalesced all these different factors of my life- passions, skills, interests- and shown me that I would be happy, excited and purposeful acting in the capacity of an agent of change for youth. The only reason I am as passionate as I am is because of the experiences I have had at CCASL.”
Students looking to become involved in mentoring with CCASL can learn more at www.gonzaga.edu/mentoring.
Another immensely popular program is Gonzaga University Specialized Recreation (GUSR), which pairs 70 GU students with over 50 adults with developmental disabilities through a variety of programming year-round, including Special Olympics and two play productions a year. The program seeks to create a place where friendships and solidarity can blossom, regardless of ability level. A mother of one GUSR participant put it simply: “GUSR has been a godsend and has changed our lives for the better.”
Students wanting to participate in GUSR or other student engagement programs should contact Jeb Berg at bergj@gonzaga.edu or visit www.gonzaga.edu/service.
One of the most impactful student experiences for students at Gonzaga are CCASL’s service immersions, Mission: Possible and Justice in January. During winter or spring breaks, over 140 students travel to 12 sites around the country to cities as far as New York and as close as Tacoma, to serve and learn about a variety of social issues in diverse communities. Service immersions at their best not only challenge but also transform. This is summed up in the words of one Mission: Possible student: “I learned I need to be open to change while doing service. Because even though we think we are there to change other people’s lives, we have the opportunity to change as well.” Undergraduate students are at a time of discerning not only what they want to do with their careers, but who they want to be, and who they want to become.
To participate in a service immersion, including a new trip to Capetown, South Africa, students should contact Luisa Gallagher at gallagher@gonzaga.edu.
Ultimately, CCASL is all about transformation: transforming students, transforming Gonzaga and transforming the community. CCASL students live out the Jesuit call to become “men and women for and with others.” In reflecting on the impact of CCASL, Dr. John Traynor, Associate Professor of Education, had this to say:
“CCASL really captures the essence of what a Jesuit education is all about. Looking at Ignatian Pedagogy, it is really, really tightly linked to what CCASL is promoting… experience, reflection, action. Pedagogically, that’s a very Jesuit approach to learning and CCASL is squarely in the middle of it.”