{"id":12750,"date":"2025-04-17T13:58:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/?p=12750"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T08:27:10","slug":"a-semester-of-growth-the-i-engage-volunteer-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/2025\/04\/17\/a-semester-of-growth-the-i-engage-volunteer-program\/","title":{"rendered":"A Semester of Growth: The I-Engage Volunteer Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This semester, the I-Engage community outreach program at Syracuse Florence has seen a remarkable surge in student participation, thanks to the dedicated efforts of new coordinator Olimpia Bozza. Olimpia, who also organizes internship placements, has brought fresh energy and innovative ideas to the program, resulting in a significant increase in student involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI love giving the students agency to do more than just learn while they\u2019re here,\u201d said Olimpia. \u201cIt also helps them build personal relationships, including with Italians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"817\" src=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/oli-1024x817.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12985\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Internship and Engagement Liaison Olimpia Bozza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Under Olimpia&#8217;s coordination, twenty students have volunteered their time this semester, representing 5% of the student body. This is a substantial increase from ten participants in the fall and just three last spring. This growth is a testament to Olimpia\u2019s commitment to developing meaningful opportunities for students since she took over the role last September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA lot of planning goes into making the semester a success for our students, and we tend to work at least one semester in advance, so we have things in place for when they arrive,\u201d explained Assistant Director Rachael Smith. \u201cOlimpia has done a tremendous job ensuring the students have a tailor-made experience. I&#8217;m sure future semesters will continue to see our I-Engage program go from strength to strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"12988\" src=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/568D6BF0-5F33-4741-B878-498FC7FF3C84-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/568D6BF0-5F33-4741-B878-498FC7FF3C84-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/568D6BF0-5F33-4741-B878-498FC7FF3C84-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/568D6BF0-5F33-4741-B878-498FC7FF3C84-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/568D6BF0-5F33-4741-B878-498FC7FF3C84-1.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Museo dei Medici<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"12989\" src=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/saint-james-garden-1-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12989\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/saint-james-garden-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/saint-james-garden-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/saint-james-garden-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/saint-james-garden-1.jpg 1512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Saint James Church Garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Students have engaged in seven different initiatives this semester, including being docents for the Museo dei Medici, gardening for the St. James American church, providing childcare through Oratorio Don Bosco, and working in the Villino Library under April Child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe best part was meeting fellow students and being able to connect with them,\u201d said library volunteer and finance major Madison Lee. \u201cI would recommend this experience to future students because April is so caring, and it is a fun way to learn more about SU Florence and be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/library-volunteers-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/library-volunteers-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/library-volunteers-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/library-volunteers-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/library-volunteers.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Syracuse Florence Library volunteers Lena Rimmer and Anna Radigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>April Child was delighted to have the help. \u201cIt has been such a joy having volunteers in the library this semester,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are full of energy and ideas and contribute so much to the library community here at Syracuse!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Olimpia Bozza at the helm, the I-Engage community outreach program is poised for continued growth and success, offering students enriching experiences that extend beyond the classroom and foster lasting connections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This semester, the I-Engage community outreach program at Syracuse Florence has seen a remarkable surge in student participation, thanks to the dedicated efforts of new coordinator Olimpia Bozza. Olimpia, who also organizes internship placements, has brought fresh energy and innovative ideas to the program, resulting in a significant increase in student involvement. \u201cI love giving&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12750"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13015,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750\/revisions\/13015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suabroad.syr.edu\/florence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}