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Civic Engagement News at Princeton

Online registrations are now being accepted for Inter-Action 2010, a three-day intensive immersion in service, learning, and fun over Intersession break, brought to you by USG, the Pace Center, SVC, and Community House. The program will run from Sunday Jan. 24, through Wednesday Jan. 27. It is open to all undergraduate students and is free for all participants, offering a high-impact experience for students regardless of previous civic engagement experience.
The Pace Council for Civic Values (PCCV), a selective student group affiliated with the Pace Center at Princeton University, is comprised of civically engaged students who promote greater civic awareness and action within the University. Applications are now being accepted. The application deadline is Friday, Dec. 11, at noon.
In the wake of a tornado that leveled Greensburg, Kan., in May 2007, local residents forged an ambitious plan to rebuild the small agricultural town with a focus on sustainability. For a group of Princeton students who traveled there over fall break, this effort became an important lesson both in environmental awareness and civic engagement. A dozen students spent the first week of November in Greensburg on one of seven Breakout Princeton civic engagement trips.
Deadline: Tuesday, Dec. 1, Midnight Breakout Princeton trip proposals and applications for trip leader are now being accepted for Spring 2010. Breakout Princeton Civic Action Trips are week-long opportunities to learn about and take action on important public issues with a group of peers. For information and links to the applications: pace.princeton.edu/breakout.
The Center for African American Studies at Princeton University will launch a summer internship program to further research in race and public policy, allowing Princeton students to work with national organizations to confront issues of disparity in urban education. Up to four Princeton students will be selected to apply their knowledge of African American studies while interning this summer at one of two nonprofit organizations that promote urban educational initiatives.
While many students caught up on sleep and TV over Fall Break, others spent their week immersed in civic engagement. The Breakout Princeton trips, organized by the Pace Center, drew 73 participants, making this fall's program the largest yet. Breakout Princeton, which holds trips during both fall and spring vacations, gives students the opportunity to travel to sites around the country and participate in experiential learning about specific civic issues.
This fall Break, I took the train up to New York with seven other Princeton students on a Pace Center-sponsored Breakout Princeton trip to learn about the particular stigmas associated with mental illness. We questioned and were questioned by psychiatrists and organizations involved in advocacy for mental health care consumers—the term patients use for themselves rather than "patient" or "the mentally ill."
ReimaginingService.org is a community and a platform to foster ideas that make an impact. It is a place for anyone who believes that volunteering is more than just "a nice thing to do," and that it holds the key to addressing some of our communities' toughest challenges. This website features the Reimagining Service report, written by a community of leaders from the government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors.
In a little more than two weeks, many Princeton students will cast their votes in the New Jersey gubernatorial election. But some other students have been involved in the election for months. Students and organizations on campus have been actively campaigning and said they will continue to do so in the next few weeks leading up to the election.
Princeton students have raised nearly $2,000 to help victims of recent natural disasters in Southeast Asia.