Warren Wilson College Students Begin College by Serving Communities Across Western North Carolina

For students arriving at Warren Wilson College, their college experience begins not only in the classroom, but in the community.

As part of New Student Orientation, 261 incoming first-year and transfer students joined faculty, staff and student leaders for Warren Wilson College’s (WWC) annual Service Day, a decades-long tradition that introduces new students to the College’s distinctive approach to education through service, work and engagement with the world around them. This pedagogy earned Warren Wilson a ranking of 19 th in the Nation for Service Learning by U.S. News & World Report.

In total, 296 members of the Warren Wilson community participated at 16 nonprofit partner sites across the Swannanoa Valley and Western North Carolina, working alongside at least 32 nonprofit staff members and community volunteers.

“Service is in Warren Wilson’s DNA,” said Damián Fernández, president of WWC. “It is also one of the ways we learn—experiential, hands-on and human-focused. At Warren Wilson we believe that we can make the world better. That is why we learn in action for the common good, we work for a better world, and we serve with love and respect for all life.”

Projects spanned community gardens, environmental stewardship, food access, education, neighborhood improvement and community support. Partner organizations included Art Space Charter School; Asheville-Buncombe County Christian Ministry; Bountiful Cities at Hall Fletcher Elementary and Lucy S. Herring Elementary; Dr. John Wilson Community Garden; Emberlight: Center for Conscious Living and Dying; Hearts with Hands; NC Wildlife Federation; Oakley Elementary; Old Fort Beautification Committee; RiverLink; Root Cause Farm; Shiloh Community Garden; Verner Center for Early Learning; and World of Abundance.

Service Day is more than an orientation activity. It is an introduction to an educational philosophy students will experience throughout their time at Warren Wilson: learning carries a responsibility to people, place and the environment.

Through coursework, internships and community-engaged work crews, Warren Wilson students repeatedly work alongside regional organizations throughout their college careers, helping increase the capacity of nonprofit partners while gaining firsthand experience addressing challenges facing their communities.

That connection between education and action is especially significant in Western North Carolina, where communities continue to navigate environmental, economic and social challenges that require collaboration across institutions, nonprofits and residents. Warren Wilson’s model gives students opportunities to understand those challenges not as abstract concepts, but as issues they can actively help address.

By making service one of students’ first shared experiences, Warren Wilson reinforces the idea that higher education can prepare students for more than careers. It can prepare them to become engaged citizens and thoughtful stewards of the communities and environments they will inherit.