The Hart Leadership Program is delighted to announce that, after a year long hiatus, Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL) is back!
In the 2015-2016 academic year, the Hart Leadership Program put SOL on hold to launch the Political Engagement Pilot Project (PEPP), a program which paired 15 students with organizations working towards political change. The Hart Leadership Program offered to design and sponsor PEPP in order to support POLIS, the new center for political leadership, innovation, and service that the Sanford School of Public Policy created last year.
SOL has been one of HLP’s signature programs for over 20 years, sending over 400 students to date to work with community organizations in 44 different countries. It is a nationally recognized, year long leadership development program, integrating community service, field research, and critical reflection within an academic framework. The SOL experience consists of three parts: a spring preparation course, a summer community-based research project, and a fall capstone seminar.
Every year, SOLsters tackle complex social issues in communities around the world, from designing a health education campaign targeting schistosomiasis in Shirati, Tanzania to working with a local soup kitchen in Anchorage, Alaska. Through SOL, students explore various efforts for social change, refine their research skills, and build dynamic relationships with their communities and peers. To hear a former SOLster describe it: “the process is exciting and the experience: unforgettable.”