Meelia Center for Community Engagement
Saint Anselm College
The Meelia Center partners with more than 45 nonprofit agencies in the greater Manchester Community with the goal of mobilizing the talent and energy of Saint Anselm students to work collaboratively with community partners to address the complex needs and challenges of our community. The center manages Community-Engaged learning for the college, hosts several major service events a year, and is supported by over 150 student volunteers.
The Meelia Center partners with the Manchester School District and other non-profits to offer programming focusing on increasing college access for K-12 students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in higher education. One of those programs is the Access Academy. This after-school program, for high school students, is taught on-campus by college students, faculty, and community partners and allows students to earn high school credit. The challenges of the pandemic created a unique opportunity for new partnerships and allowed Access Academy to partner with Eversource Academy to offer a unique online class called Eversource Career Exploration and Professional Skills. In this class, Eversource staff members and Saint Anselm College students collaborated to teach Access Academy students lessons on green energy, teamwork, financial literacy, public speaking, interviewing, and more. Each lesson was taught by a different Eversource staff member, allowing students to meet professionals from various departments such as Human Resources, Electric Operations, and Budgets and Investment Planning. By engaging with these professionals and college students, MSD students developed their professional skills and explored a variety of careers. Although the class was taught virtually, the Eversource and Access Academy teams were able to create an impactful experience that opened the students’ eyes to higher education and wider career possibilities.