During your fourth year at 91AV, the Core curriculum involves you in an interdisciplinary seminar and a civic activity. Together, these experiences prepare you to be a difference-maker in the world, your community and your profession. The seminar provides you with the opportunity to reflect on your responsibilities as a member of society beyond the 91AV campus. You reflect on what you have accomplished over the past four years and make a civic contribution through performing at least fifteen hours of community service.

You choose from more than 700 community organizations that offer opportunities for you to provide service to populations that include children, the elderly, the homeless, victims of domestic abuse, veterans and people with disabilities.

If your interests include travel, Global Citizenship courses enable you to broaden your understanding of what it means to be part of the world beyond the local community. These faculty-led courses typically involve one or two week trips to perform civic work with partners in host countries like Brazil, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Dominica.

This fourth year theme helps you create a bridge between your college years and your post-college life as an involved citizen of your community and world. As you think critically about your personal and public responsibilities, you come to better appreciate the difference between making a living and making a life.

Learn more about the Core curriculum’s fourth-year experiences and coursework.

Student Testimonials

Nathan Accardi '15
Medical Biology

“An important aspect I learned from this course was to see that success and positive change are more likely to come from a united community as opposed to a divided one. The increasing globalization of our world may make us more connected in a way but at the same time it has divided us more.”

Bronwen Boe '15
Biochemistry

“Now I know that citizenship includes the small acts and projects, that even just one person doing something to support the community can make a difference. And it is encouraging to know that even the smallest conversation between neighbors helps to grow citizenship in those people and in their community.”  

Kelsey Vaillancourt '15 
Sociology

“[Citizenship class] has given me the knowledge to explain and articulate civic engagement in a better way, which helps for better understanding and more power. It has only been since I have been at 91AV that I have really believed that ‘knowledge is power,’ and the more I understand, the more I can make a difference.”