The Experiential Leadership Institute culminates in a Community Impact Project that small groups within ELI work on throughout the semester. Each small group is tasked to come up with a solution to a need either in the Spokane community or on the Gonzaga campus. They meet with stakeholders to discuss their ideas and gather more information. Near the end of the semester the small groups present their projects to stakeholders and members from the community.
Examples of past ELI projects include:
- The "How to Adult Fair" taught students life skills that aren't taught in the classroom. Members from the Spokane community had booths and held sessions focusing on areas that would be important for students to understand, like signing a lease, balancing a checkbook, and getting insurance.
- A project was aimed at figuring out how to streamline off-campus housing for students so they can be more informed and know what steps to take to procure housing for themselves after their freshman and sophomore year.
- A sustainability project had the idea to put composting containers in the apartments of Kennedy and others around campus to encourage students to help the environment. The containers included information on what can be composted and what should be recycled or trashed.
- A group worked to figure out how to get certification training courses on campus for a variety of things including CPR, lifeguarding, and yoga. It can be expensive and time consuming for students to get off campus to obtain these valuable certifications, and the group wanted to help alleviate those obstacles.
2020-2021 ELI Impact Projects
- Project 1: Food Pantry
- Project 2: POC Safety House
- Project 3: Differentiating Mental Health Resources on Campus
- Project 4: Post-Secondary Pathways
- Project 5: Middle School Mental Health
- Project 6: Improving the Relationship Between Campus Security & Students
- Project 7: Interpreter Skills Lab
- Project 8: Career Closet