Educating the Whole Person Through Community Engaged Learning

At Gonzaga University, learning does not stop at the classroom door. Through Community
Engaged Learning (CEL) courses supported by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE),
students are invited to step beyond campus and into the broader Spokane community by
building relationships, deepening their education, and living out Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission in
tangible ways

For Mark Bowman, a retired Gonzaga faculty member who spent 23 years at the university and
more than a decade teaching CEL-designated philosophy courses, this approach to education
reflects something essential. “At Gonzaga, because of the mission, you have to walk the talk,”
Bowman shared. “Somewhere along the line, you need to act in the world.”

Learning Through Relationship and Reflection

Community Engaged Learning at Gonzaga integrates meaningful community service with
academic instruction and structured reflection. Students engage directly with community
partners while examining course concepts through lived experience. CEL courses are grounded
in four core elements: integration of service and coursework, faculty and community partners
as co-teachers, active student participation, and reflection as a guide for learning.

Bowman taught Philosophy 201 as a CEL course for over 12 years, working with up to 12
community organizations each semester. His students completed approximately 20 hours of
service while remaining connected to course readings, class discussions, and written reflections.
While he initially found it challenging to explicitly connect philosophy with community work,
those connections often emerged organically

“It wasn’t always obvious at first, But through reflection, the meaning would surface.”

Northeast Spokane as a Classroom

Through the CCE, Bowman partnered with a wide range of Northeast Spokane organizations,
including Campus Kitchen, Gonzaga Family Haven, the Zag Volunteer Corps, and youth
programming at Northeast Spokane elementary, middle, and high schools. His work also
extended to partnerships across the broader Spokane community, such as Feast World Kitchen
and the Barton English School at First Presbyterian, where he has continued to volunteer for
over three years, walking through the language learning process with students.

For Bowman, these community partners were not simply placement sites, but co-educators.

“You leave judgment at the door,” he said. “Poverty is complex. These aren’t ‘those people.’
These are our community members; with the same struggles and joys we all have.”

The shift from seeing service as charity to seeing it as relationship continues to be central to the
student experience. CEL allows students to form direct connections with the people and
neighborhoods they serve, breaking down assumptions and fostering mutual respect.

Reflection as the Bridge Between Service and Learning

Reflection was the cornerstone of Bowman’s teaching. Students shared stories from their
service sites, connected their experiences to philosophical texts, and learned from one
another’s insights. Through this process, reflection became the bridge that transformed action
into understanding and helped students make sense of the deeper meaning behind their
community engagement.

Through these reflections, students began to recognize the real-world impact of their presence
and reliability. Showing up consistently mattered, not just for their own learning, but because
community members were counting on them. Many students described their time in the
community as grounding, even restorative. “For a couple of hours,” Bowman noted, “they could
focus on helping others and set aside the stress of school.”

Educating the Whole Person

The effects of CEL often lasted far beyond the course itself. Bowman recalled students who
formed deep bonds, gained confidence, and discovered new paths forward. Some were hired
by their community partners after graduation.

Community Engaged Learning reflects Gonzaga’s broader vision of educating the whole person-
intellectually, spiritually, culturally, physically, and emotionally. By engaging with Northeast
Spokane community partners through the CCE, students learn that education is not only about
acquiring knowledge, but about developing empathy, accountability, and a commitment to the
common good. 

As Bowman reflected on his years teaching CEL, he described it as “a great run” and spoke
fondly of the relationships formed along the way. His experience captures the heart of CEL at
Gonzaga: learning rooted in community, guided by reflection, and shaped by the belief that
education should move us to act.