Department of Student Engagement

Leadership: An individual who makes significant contributions to building a sense of unity and purpose in their community. The nominee should have a demonstrated ability to build stronger communities through promotion of personal growth and development.

Change Agent: An individual who promotes and enables meaningful community change with innovative thinking to identify a need and fill the gap. The nominee should have contributed to at least one community program or initiative with measurable results of how they impacted participants of that community program or initiative.

Social Responsibility: An individual who assists others in improving their communities through volunteer programs, social groups, outreach centers, sports programs or after school groups. The nominee should have contributed to at least one community program or initiative with measurable results of how they impacted participants of that community program or initiative.

Mentorship: An individual who demonstrates positive values and behaviors that influence others to emulate or aspire to emulate. The nominee should have examples of instances during which they have mentored community members in a positive way.

Community Builder: An individual who demonstrates an instance when they have brought groups of people together to build a sense of community. This work could include building a generational or cultural bridge based on a common purpose, like-mindedness, or collective learning.

Community Organizer: An individual who advocates for and motivates others towards a common cause. The nominee should have demonstrated supporting a grassroot movement with collective action to effect community change.

Social Justice: An individual who is dedicated to taking action towards a just, anti-racist, and equitable community. The nominee should have demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing social diversity and cooperation, to promoting social welfare through political thought and activism, and to helping people achieve their rights.

• Gold: 900 hours of service
• Silver: 600 hours of service
• Bronze: 300 hours of service

Students will be awarded their medals at the Commitment to Service Awards and are encouraged to wear their service medals during commencement ceremonies as well as indicate this distinctive honor on their resumes.

Past Award Winners

• Deepen your impact with a holistic service approach.

• Receive a Commitment to Service medal to wear at graduation.

• Denote this prestigious honor on your resume.

• Explore and develop leadership through intentional reflection and relationship building.

• Have your service hours formally documented for graduate school, jobs and internship applications.

• Help Brandeis achieve national honors and awards.

• Tracking hours aids in the receipt of grants and funding for future service opportunities.

• Make a local and global impact.

• Take pride in and celebrate your community organizing and impact.

• Benefit from special programs for all program participants.

• Formally commit to the social justice mission of Brandeis University.

• Have your name posted as recipient on the Department of Community Service website.

• Help support Brandeis University’s Mission and Diversity statements, in particular, Brandeis’ commitment to social justice.

All undergraduate students tracking hours on Campus Groups are automatically enrolled in the CTSA program. 

Note: ONLY hours entered into the Brandeis University Community Service Tracking Hours System (Campus Groups) will count toward award hours requirements. 

Students in their senior year at Brandeis will be asked to submit a brief reflection essay to qualify for the CTSA award. Students must document Community Service Hours regularly (at least monthly) on Campus Groups. 

Students who do reach one of the awarded hour levels are required to submit a reflection essay at the end of their senior year to complete the program. Written reflection is a powerful way to document your learning and enhance your service experience.

We encourage you to complete this reflection at any point during your experience where you felt the greatest amount of development. Please do not save this to the very end.

Please use the questions below as a guide for writing your reflection essay. In addition to reflecting on your volunteer work, please reference the Commitment to Service program in your essay and how your enrollment in the program contributed to your overall experience while at Brandeis.

Content

1. What were your main service activities during your college career? What are some of the highlights of your service experiences?

2. What prompted your decision to log your service hours with the CTS Program? What impact has participating in this program had on you?

3. What is the most significant thing you have learned a) about yourself and b) about the community in which you served through your service endeavors?

4. How will you continue to stay engaged in service after graduation?

5. How has your volunteer work impacted your values or career path?

6. Tell us a story about the connection you made during you service experience that has most significantly impacted you.

Format and Submission

Please follow the format below when writing and submitting your reflection paper.

1. Essays should be no less than one page in length and should not exceed three pages.

2. The font should be 12 point Times New Roman.

3. The essays can be single spaced or 1.5 spaced.

4. Use standard one inch margins.

5. Make sure that your full name is included at the top of the essay.

6. Use the following file naming convention when saving your essay" “LastNameFirstInitial.ReflectionEssay.YYYY.” For example, “BleckerE.ReflectionEssay.2023”.

7. Submit both a Word version and a PDF version of your essay.

Reflection essays can be emailed to the Commitment to Service Committee. The essay is a required component in order to receive your CTS medal. We look forward to reading about your service experience!

Dozens of former CTSA participants have shared with the Department of Student Engagement how valuable logging their service hours with the CTSA was for their professional development. Below are some examples of language that you might use to highlight your service hours on your resume or in a cover letter.

Cover Letter

• I am a BA in Sociology Candidate with four years of experience spearheading new community service initiatives including ___. I have logged over XX hours with the Brandeis Commitment to Service Program.

• I am a Brandeis Commitment to Service Program Gold Medal Winner. I have dedicated over XX hours to community service and secured XX in fundraising to support service projects.

Resume

Waltham Group Companions to Elders, Program Coordinator, 2013-2015

• Committed over XX hours of community service to planning service activities at local assisted living facilities. Supervised a total of XX student volunteers.

• Proven experience working with different stakeholders including campus and community partners.

• Performed intake with over XX volunteer applications to assess applicant strengths and eligibility.

• Collaborated with XX stakeholders to plan community fundraiser, resulted in $XXX raised for the program.

• Managed program budget and made recommendations for how to cut costs and streamline spending.

• Developed new marketing and communications plan resulting in an XX% increase in volunteer applications.

Framing Service Hours Not Logged with the CTSA

There are many strategies that students can use to feature service hours on their resumes and in their cover letters that were not able to be counted toward the CTSA. It is important that students differentiate between hours that were logged with the CTSA and hours that were not able to be counted toward the program. Example language that can be used to differentiate includes:

• I completed over XX hours of community service throughout my Brandeis career including XX hours logged with the Commitment to Service Award.

• I committed a total of XX volunteer hours to the surrounding community throughout my time at Brandeis including XX hours with the Commitment to Service Award.

We strongly encourage all CTSA participants to meet with the Hiatt Career Center to receive further guidance on their resumes and cover letters.