Community Action is a week-long orientation program for the first-year class sponsored by the Pace Center for Civic Engagement. CA seeks to promote an ethic of meaningful service among undergraduates, foster productive collaboration between the University and surrounding communities, and engage all participants in both academic and interpersonal dialogue.
CA fosters a positive and supportive environment where incoming students have the opportunity to:
Connect with other students and establish friendships
Discover new places, people, and topics
Act through meaningful service and conversations
and have Fun!
Strong student leadership is a core element of the CA program and is vital in helping our incoming students have a positive and meaningful service experience during their week.
There are several ways to be a part of the CA Leadership Team:
CA Leader
During the week of CA, the first-year students are guided and mentored by their CA Leaders, who are well-trained and very enthusiastic current students. CA Leaders have the opportunity to positively shape the experience of incoming first-year students by facilitating community building activities, serving as liaisons with community partners and projects, and carrying out the daily schedule in order to ensure the safety and security of all participants. In addition, during the week and beyond, CA Leaders provide support, advice and guidance to the participants to help them integrate into Princeton and the community. Each CA group is comprised of 10-12 first-year students and 2-3 CA Leaders.
CA Support Team
A strong support system is needed to ensure that everything goes smoothly during CA. The CA Support Team is comprised of two subgroups: CA Regional Support and the CA Command Center.
1. CA Regional Support team members focus on supporting the CA Fellows & Leaders within the regions and are on site. CA Regional Support works in pairs, examples of some tasks may include assisting with the delivery of supplies, providing backup support for leader groups, returning a student to campus, reporting back to CA staff for updates, etc. CA Regional Support must be or willing to become University Driver Certified as driving is a requirement of the role.
2. CA Command Center serves as the first point of contact to resolve any issues or concerns during CA. The Command Center is staffed by students and Pace Center professional staff who are trained to answer calls from students, staff, community partners and campus partners. The CA Command Center operates Sunday-Friday from 8am - 11pm (divided into two shifts).
Being a part of the CA Leadership Team offers the following:
- Early move into your housing assignment for the fall semester
- Meals during training and programming (includes the week of CA)
- Student leadership experience
- Welcoming the Princeton class of 2023!
CA Timeline
- CA Leadership Team Spring Meeting: TBD April 2019
- Pace Center Student Leader Intensive (required for all NEW leadership team meambers, encouraged for Returning leadership team members): TBD April 2019
- Orientation Leader Kick-off: TBD May 2019
- CA Leadership Team Move-In & Kick-off Meeting: Tuesday, August 27
- CA Leadership Team Training, Prep & Kick-off: Wednesday, August 28 - Sunday, September 1
- CA Week: Monday, September 2 - Friday, September 6
- CA Leadership Team Debriefs (exact date/time to be scheduled by your CA Fellow): Saturday, September 7 -Tuesday, September 10
Qualifications
- Member of Princeton’s Class of 2020, 2021, 2022
- Must be in good standing with the University
- Available for and attend all training, meeting and program dates (listed above)
- Submit a completed application
- Participate in a CA Group Process Session
Application Deadline(s):
PRIORITY: January 25 by 11:59 pm EST
1st: February 22 by 11:59 pm EST
NOTE: Community Action uses multiple deadlines to ensure that the needs of the program are appropriately met. It also allows students the opportunity to thoughtfully apply ensuring that they can meet all of the required program dates. Additional deadlines may be added at the discretion of the CA Program Staff.
If you apply by the priority deadline, you will be invited to participate in the CA Group Process during the month of February and you will receive notification of your standing in early March.
If you have any questions about the application or process, please contact Sara Gruppo, CA Program Director at sgruppo@princeton.edu.