Undergraduate Community Service Opportunities

As an entrepreneurial leader, you can have a positive impact in your community. Babson’s community service and justice programs allow you to volunteer and make a difference at local, national, and global levels.

Local Community Service Opportunities

We all play a role in giving back. And, the easiest place to start is at home. One-time and ongoing undergraduate community service opportunities give you multiple ways to volunteer in the greater Babson community.

Service Learning

Many of your classes will embed service into the work you do, allowing you to have a positive impact individually or as part of a team. You’ll have the opportunity to analyze and take action on social justice issues as part of these classes:

• Seminar in Human Rights
• Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship
• Leadership
• Management Consulting Field Experience
• Social Entrepreneurship

Natalie Taylor Scholars Program

Natalie Taylor Scholars are students who are committed to utilizing their entrepreneurial leadership and mindset to have a positive social impact and work toward social justice. You can apply as a first-year student or as a sophomore. As part of the program, you will:

• Complete two courses:
   - Be the Change: Evaluating Social Impact 
   - Scholar in Action
• Advance one or more of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals via an independent social change project.
• Complete 300 hours of community service, including at least one service immersion experience.

Students successfully completing the program graduate with distinction.

First-Year Service in Action Program

As a first-year student, you can take part in multiple service projects in your first semester alone! Past projects have included a visit to Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore, Cradles to Crayons, and Community Servings.

Social Innovation Lab

Learn how to take action to advance the U.N. Sustainable Development goals, including social justice, sustainability, poverty, and education. Hands-on learning experiences allow you to directly work on social issues.

Community Events on Campus

There are several events that let you give back and support social justice causes and organizations each year. These include:

• September: National Day of Service and Remembrance
• October: Cruickshank 5K Race for Shelter
• November: Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week; Town of Wellesley Cradles to Crayons Sort
• March: Habitat for Humanity Spaghetti Luncheon
• Year round: Cradles to Crayons donation drive

Global & National Service Immersion Trips

Volunteer in the communities that can benefit most. During winter and spring breaks, intensive service experiences allow you to extend your time working within a community, giving you a deeper understanding of societal issues while meeting new people, visiting new places, and learning new skills.

Through reflective activities, service immersion trips promote civic engagement, leadership development, and appreciation of diversity.

Habitat for Humanity

Several times each year, a Babson team of students, faculty, and staff travel to both domestic and international locations to build affordable housing from the ground up for families in need. See some of the past areas students have worked.

Winter Break: Gulf Coast 

For the past several years, Babson has helped families around the Gulf Coast recover from devastation due to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Spring and Summer Breaks: El Salvador

In addition to building homes across the country, including Santa Ana, San Salvador, and La Paz, you also have the opportunity to teach entrepreneurship programs in a small village in Ahuachapán.

Babson Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy (BELA)

As part of Babson’s mission to educate entrepreneurial leaders who create great economic and social value everywhere, the BELA program sends teams of Babson students, staff, faculty, and alumni to domestic and international locations to teach entrepreneurs and high school students entrepreneurial skills they can use to improve their communities.

Winter Break: Tanzania

A one-week intensive program, this BELA trip allows you to work with around 100 high school students at the Ganako School in Karatu, Tanzania, teaching them the basics of entrepreneurial leadership. You also will spend two days on safari and explore the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara National Park.