Volunteering - Doing Something Matters!

You will have many opportunities for hands-on applications of your Northland education. Within this context, you can serve the local community and provide critical work that helps to build the social and natural capital of the Chequamegon Bay region. At the same time, you will gain significant skills, attitudes, and relevant experiences to help prepare you for increasingly responsible work now and with your future career aspirations.

So how can you become involved with volunteering opportunities on campus and the community?

1. Participate in the annual Volunteer Fair
   During the first 4 weeks of each fall semester, Student Life and the Northland Volunteer Program host this annual event. Several community partners recruit Northland students for a variety of volunteer experiences (also known as pre-professional experiences) in areas as diverse as human services, sustainability and education, just to name a few.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
2. Connect with the Northland Volunteer Program
   This student-led organization connects Northland students with community partners to engage in a variety of service-related work. It's a great way for you to immediately get involved with doing work that matters.


3. Pursue certifications in the Center for Ethical Leadership and Active Citizenship
   You bring a multitude of assets to the local community to enhance the health and vitality of our region. Your talents will be connected with community partners who can provide you with a variety of practical experiences to enhance your learning. You will have great opportunities to share your talents with the local community, and you can also receive recognition and certification through  Northland College. Northland students would be connected with hands-on  applications of their education, so they can explore and chart their career plans. They will gain significant skills, attitudes, and relevant experiences to successfully prepare them for increasingly responsible work now and to help leverage their future career aspirations.


4. Participate in the annual Job and Internship Fair
   Every February, the Northland Career Education Center hosts this annual event. You will have the opportunity to apply for internships, jobs and volunteer opportunities to gain practical, pre-professional experience in your major or field of interest. Additionally, there are professionals in a variety of disciplines on hand for you to network and information interview with, to further strengthen your career choices.

By providing access to more planned, experience-based learning within students' 4-year completion plans, will quickly translate the value of a Northland education to students and families. We will guarantee access to pre-professional experiences for all Northland students. This will begin in student's first year, with progressively responsible opportunities throughout their undergraduate career. For many higher educational institutions, these types of options are not available until near the end of a student's undergraduate experience, if at all.

We will also be preparing students with important workplace attributes for careers and work that have not yet emerged, as we move from our current economy to a green one. According to Dr. Carol McClelland, Executive Director of Green Career Central, "we're in the very earliest stage of a major economic transformation, like the first two or three years of an industrial revolution." This transformation is further catalyzed with the advent of Baby Boomers retiring at unparalleled numbers. Organizations and companies will be competing with a limited number of qualified candidates to fill and upgrade these vacancies. This timing represents a national call to action for us now. We must connect our students with meaningful work experiences in new ways, as they become tomorrow's global workforce.