The office of community partnerships was established to oversee efforts to build collaborative relationships with community organizations with the intention of mutual growth and learning. The staff works to develop resources in the community to provide opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to be involved in activities that further students' education and understanding of issues faced within the community.

A network of civic, social, and religious agencies has been established and continues to grow under the premise that learning comes through experience. Through partnering with the community, Trinity students partake in structured learning situations that engage students in analytical, reflective discourse about issues faced by the community at large.

 New Director Integrates More Service into Curriculum

Service provides an integral part of coursework in departments such as social work and psychology, but the goal of the College is to expand this experiential learning opportunity.

“We want to see more service learning embedded into the curriculum at large,” said Anna Rosas ’06, director of community partnerships and service learning.

The service aspect was added to the position, which Rosas has been settling into since August. Although opportunities to serve abound at Trinity through classes, Interim trips, study abroad, and student clubs and organizations, the plan is to possibly incorporate a service learning component into all of the 21 cross cultural courses. Rosas will work with faculty in creatively planning how to find service work that coincides with what is being taught in class.

Besides working with professors and community partners, Rosas, who received her bachelor’s in theology from Trinity and her master of arts in educational ministries from Calvin Theological Seminary, will be working with students. She is now making tentative plans for integrating service learning into the theology class she will be teaching.

In her new position, she will continue to strengthen the community partnerships built by former director Felecia Thompson, who, ironically, was Rosas’ First Year Forum mentor when Rosas was a freshman at Trinity. She will, however, focus primarily on cultivating even more partnerships with organizations that will provide ongoing service learning opportunities to even more students.

Born in Argentina, Rosas was raised in Miami and eventually found her way to Trinity during an online college search. She belongs to Hope Christian Reformed Church and lives in Crestwood, Illinois.

“I am very grateful to be back at Trinity, working alongside people who have a love and commitment to education and to students,” she said.