Community Service Resource Center
Programs
Resources
Programs
Pre-Orientation
Begin your public service experience the day you arrive on campus by participating in this program that uses community service to familiarize new students with the greater Brunswick area. Known as Community Immersion, Pre-O service trips are intensive three day experiences of hands-on work confronting the issues facing local communities. With daily service projects, field trips to sites of interest, panel discussions with staff from area nonprofits, nightly reflective discussions and social activities which support local businesses, through this Pre-Orientation experience, students can build life-long friendships, while fostering a commitment to service throughout their stay at Bowdoin and beyond.
Students relax on a Casco Bay cruise, and 
reflect on their community immersion experience.Sample service activities include:
- working in a community garden growing native produce for Portland's refugee community
- cooking a meal at a homeless shelter
- fence work at a therapeutic equestrian center
- coastal clean-up
- throwing an ice cream social at a senior center
Field trips take participants into the various communities surrounding Bowdoin College — Portland with a sizable population of recent immigrants and refugees; the island communities which hold a rich fishing and lobstering traditions; and downtown Brunswick, which is home to over 50 nonprofit organizations serving the Midcoast region. Participants visit historical sites, state parks and beaches, and meet the people who staff these places. View an example Itinerary from 2004 (pdf). Students who have taken part in the Community Immersion Pre-Orientation program often go on to be Pre-O Leaders.
For more information on Community Immersion, please contact Sarah Seames by email or at 798-4133.
Find out about Bowdoin Outing Club Pre-Orientation trips.