CHEERS to YEARS 30
2025-26 CCE Annual Report
Kellee Kikomoto ('17), Victim Advocacy Supervisor at Lutheran Community Services, keynote speaker at CCE's 30th Anniversary celebration
View the commemorative 30th anniversary video first presented at the
“Cheers to 30 Years” celebration
At the Center for Community Engagement’s annual leader recognition in April, Senior Speaker Isabella “Bella” Realmuto reflected on her experience at the Center. In preparing for a gathering with fellow leaders, she reflected on a principle practice from Ignatian spirituality — accompaniment — a posture deeply rooted in Jesuit tradition that calls us to come alongside others, both in formal settings and in the everyday moments of our lives.
“It is an invitation to pause, notice the person before us, and simply receive their story,” Bella explained. “And it clicked … this is the foundation of everything we do.”
She brought this idea to life through a simple example from her work:
“When people ask what I do as a Campus Engagement Liaison, I meet them with a funny quip about spending a shift making flowers from pipe cleaner.”
In those moments, she considers the dexterity of the seniors at Maplewood Gardens, the careful curation of which colors they would enjoy most, and how they try, again and again, to make the perfect flower.
Bella’s reflection captured, in a deeply human way, the foundation of our work at the Center for Community Engagement. Her words resonated especially in a year we celebrated the Center’s 30th anniversary, a milestone that invited us to look back and reaffirm the values that continue to guide us forward.
There are many lessons we hope our students carry with them as they leave Gonzaga. At the heart of these is the belief that we are bound to one another, called to see God in all things — especially in the faces of those before us. From this follows a responsibility: that our gifts are not ours alone, but are meant to serve the common good. Or, as Bella reminds us, the “common goods” recognizing the diversity of our experiences and identities.
And perhaps most importantly, we learn that justice is often fostered in the slow and small. It is in these everyday acts that we widen the circle, attend to one another with care, celebrate moments of joy, and sustain hope.
I hope you enjoy the stories in this year’s annual report, each one a reflection of this shared work. We are deeply grateful to all of you who carry it forward through your advocacy, partnership, storytelling, commitment, and love.
In peace,
Assistant Dean Center for Community Engagement
2,419
136 STUDENT LEADERS AND VOLUNTEERS
COMMUNITY ENGAGED LEARNING SESSIONS
680 CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY ATTENDEES AT LOGAN BLOCK PARTY
65,239
7,690 HOURS CONTRIBUTED TO COMMUNITY
MEALS SERVED BY THE CAMPUS KITCHEN
360
NEIGHBORHOOD YOUTH SERVED IN CCE YOUTH PROGRAMS
$2.6M
ESTIMATED IMPACT
NATIONAL RANKINGS
#15 EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE LEARNING U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
#14 MOST ENGAGED IN COMMUNITY SERVICE PRINCETON REVIEW
ENGAGED LEARNING
Educating the Whole Person
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) invites students to step beyond the classroom and into Spokane’s neighborhoods, connecting academic work with real relationships. For retired philosophy professor Mark Bowman, who taught CEL courses for more than a decade, this approach reflects Gonzaga’s commitment to walking with others toward a hope-filled future.
His students served each semester with organizations across Spokane, from Campus Kitchen to Gonzaga Family Haven to Feast World Kitchen. Professor Bowman embraces partners as co-educators who help students understand community strengths, challenges and shared humanity.
Central to his courses is reflection which fosters connections between philosophical ideas and the human experience. Modeled by faculty like Professor Bowman, CEL is a powerful educational tool. These courses support Gonzaga’s goal of educating the whole person, intellectually, emotionally, and ethically by fostering empathy, accountability, and a commitment to the common good.
Faculty Deepen Teaching
Gonzaga’s Center for Teaching and Advising (CTA) partnered with the Center for Community Engagement and Gonzaga Outdoors to launch a new Experiential Learning Micro-credential, giving faculty a chance to deepen their teaching through community-engaged and outdoor learning.
Rooted in Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission, the program builds on community-engaged learning practices, which connects academic coursework with service, collaboration, and reflection. The eight-week experience helped faculty redesign syllabi to include high impact, place-based practices.
Faculty members paddle the Little Spokane River as part of their immersive outdoor learning experience.
Ross Carper, Co-Executive Director of Feast World Kitchen, and Mark Bowman pictured
More Than a Program: GUSR Shapes Who Seniors Become
For seniors Nya Schara, Taylor Icon and Kate Gage, Gonzaga Unified Sports and Recreation (GUSR) became much more than a program. GUSR pairs Gonzaga students with adults in the Spokane community who have developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Each senior discovered GUSR differently. Gage was inspired by a former teacher’s experience, Icon discovered it at the service fair, and Schara joined after encouragement from a resident assistant during a difficult transition to college.
Zag for a Day
The Center for Community Engagement hosted 15 students from North Central and Rogers High School for a healthcare-focused "Zag for a Day" experience, giving them an immersive look at college life and future careers in healthcare.
After a tour, students connected with real professionals and learned from a panel of medical, EMT, and nursing students who shared personal stories and answered questions about different pathways into healthcare.
Students also joined a hands-on ultrasound clinic, toured the simulation lab, and explored the Tilford Center to see how healthcare training happens in realistic environments.
Over the last four years, all three developed meaningful relationships and a deeper understanding of advocacy and disability justice. Schara said, “It’s not abstract anymore. You see it, you hear it. You understand exactly where the issues are.” Licon has applied those lessons in her work at a law office, while Gage emphasized that “those little moments with everyone in the room mean the most.”
Their favorite memories include Way of the Heart and the annual talent show. “You don’t know what GUSR is until you walk into the room,” they said. It's hard to fully describe it, "you have to feel it."
UW School of Medicine-Gonzaga students demonstrating an ultrasound for high school youth
(L-R) Kate Gage, Nya Schara, and Taylor Icon
Kate Gage ('26) at programming with a GUSR participant
