Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 12:55 p.m. on March 20 to correctly identify the Civic Engagement team within the Department of Student Life.
Since Aug. 2025, UVM students have logged over 7,000 hours of service work on UVM Clubs. Additionally, UVM offers 135 service- and civic-learning classes where students volunteer with over 150 local community organizations.
The contributions students have made in the community have not gone unnoticed. For the second year in a row, The Princeton Review ranked UVM as the top public university for making an impact.
“I think the students who enroll here are the reason we get that ranking,” said Aimee Alexander, Assistant Director for Civic Engagement.
Part of the Department of Student Life, the Civic Engagement team supports student volunteers by planning community service events, such as trips to the local Humane Society, and providing resources for campus organizations interested in service work.
“Our job is twofold, we do community service planning and civic education,” Alexander said.
Many students have taken advantage of these resources and gotten involved with local communities.
Alicia Rosato ‘26
Senior Alicia Rosato serves as the Director of Operations for UVM Rescue, a student-led volunteer ambulance service staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Annually, they respond to an average of 2,000 calls both on and off campus. They have 23 current members, all of whom are students or alumni, according to the UVM Rescue website.
Rosato joined UVM Rescue as a first-year student in 2022.
“Volunteering is a huge part of my life, and it’s really special to be able to make a difference,” said Rosato.
Ella Moses ‘29
Originally from Oahu, Hawaii, first-year Ella Moses volunteers at a food pantry and a therapeutic horse farm at home.
Upon arriving at UVM, Moses sought ways to connect with the Burlington community and reached out to local retirement homes to surprise residents for Valentine’s Day.
“It was sweet being able to meet them,” Moses said. “A lot of them just want someone to talk and listen to them.”
Getting involved was as simple as a phone call. It had a significant impact on both Moses and the residents, she said.
Sophie Heiden ‘29
Sophie Heiden, a first-year biology major, volunteers with two community organizations: the Echo Center for Lake Champlain and the North End Food Pantry. She started at Echo in October, helping guests with completing educational engineering challenges.
Since December, Heiden has also helped at North End Food Pantry, sorting and handing out food on Saturday mornings.
“I think civic engagement is super important, and it’s really easy to get involved, at least in the Burlington community,” said Heiden.
Vermonters outside of UVM are also making an impact.
According to the Vermont Civic Health Index, Vermont ranks second in the country for working with neighbors to do something positive for the community.
“We wanted to do [the Civic Health Index] just as a baseline so we could see how we are doing,” said Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont Secretary of State. “What areas of civic health are doing well and what areas should we be concentrating on to guide our work in future years?”
Copeland Hanzas was sworn in Jan. 2023, and her first act in office was creating a new position focused on voter education and civic engagement. They have targeted civic engagement on college campuses, including UVM, through initiatives to increase student voter turnout.
A“Vote Tote” is now available for student organizations to use, Alexander said. The tote is a portable voter registration tool that students can check out to run their own voter registration drives, featuring a QR code to register to vote, pocket constitutions, voter buttons and stickers.
“Dissatisfaction with policy proposals or ideas can be a great motivator, which might explain why UVM, and college students in general, tend to be politically engaged,” Copeland Hanzas said.
Civic engagement begins with this passion students feel about pressing issues, she said.
“In conversations with young adults, I find they’re often dissatisfied with the fact that they’ve been doing lockdown drills since kindergarten and have seen no meaningful improvement in gun safety,” she said.
Copeland Hanzas continued, saying that young adults are fed up with a lack of progress, from climate policy to economic disparities.
Peter VonDoepp, chair of the political science department, spoke about the high levels of civic engagement in Burlington and UVM.
VonDoepp has one main message for first-year students.
“Be engaged. That means engage in your classes, but also engage in the opportunities that exist here,” he said.
He stressed the importance of civic engagement, especially in the current political climate. No matter what it looks like, from going to a meeting to volunteering, connecting is the most important part, VonDoepp said.
“Generally, high levels of civic engagement are associated with higher levels of political involvement, and that can be good for democracy,” VonDoepp said.
Additionally, civic engagement can help decrease polarization, VonDoepp said.
Pew Research Center polling revealed a rise in partisan hostility, with 72% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats in 2022 viewing the opposing party as more immoral than other Americans. This is a dramatic increase from 47% and 35%, respectively, in 2016.
Participating in civic organizations together may help bridge the gap, VonDoepp said.
“[If] we’re frying burgers together at the snack shack or participating in church life together or are part of some other civic organization, I probably will develop a sense of you as a decent human being,” he said.
With the current threats to democracy we’re facing, the best thing to do is to engage and get involved in civic life, VonDoepp said.
