University of Redlands

For first-generation student Hailee Macias ’28, the moment she learned she was selected to receive an educational grant felt surreal. Redlands had already become a place where she felt supported and seen, but receiving the STAR award for academic excellence her senior year of high school, followed recently by the Sisters Helping Illuminate those in Need of Educational support (SHINE) award, was an affirmation that she was truly on the right path.

The power of collaboration, the importance of coalition building, and the art of listening — these valuable lessons Rep. Pete Aguilar ’01 learned through community service at the University of Redlands prepared him for life on Capitol Hill. “None of us can do this on our own,” Aguilar said.

His service internship at Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Loma Linda was unlike anything Raymond Morris ’23 had ever experienced before. The babies and children here are medically fragile, with some in vegetative states and many unable to communicate verbally. Morris, a communication sciences and disorders major, was given specific tasks to complete, like read to the kids or try to help a child with their hand grip.

The University is a residential campus and requires students to live on campus for the duration of their undergraduate experience. Studies show an increase in diversity awareness and understanding, student- faculty interactions, and engagement in collaborative learning by students who live on campus in a liberal arts school.

Martín Hoecker-Martinez makes a point of showing up — not because it’s required, but because for this physics professor, it would feel wrong not to. From early-morning starts during Admitted Students’ Day to helping non-physics students with kinesiology questions, he’s there, and it’s getting noticed beyond University of Redlands.

In third grade, Michelle Scribner ’05, ’13, ’16 struggled with reading. Her teacher, Mrs. Wills, refused to give up on her and dedicated extra time to help her catch up. The result wasn’t just Scribner becoming a stronger reader — it was the moment that shaped who she wanted to become. “Mrs. Wills is the reason I became a teacher, to give back to other kids like me, who struggled,” she said.

Most courses ask students to study a problem. Professor Nicole Keating’s Media and Social Change course asks them to do something about it. Offered during Woodbury University’s May term, the project-based class pulls students from across the university — architecture, design, media, business, liberal arts and sciences — and challenges them to address real social justice issues with real community partners and real deliverables.

Fresh off completing his undergraduate degree in environmental science at the University of Redlands, Sam Irvine ’13, ’17 found himself traversing the neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, selling carbon offsets in an effort to combat climate change. Knowing he was capable of more, Irvine decided to go back to school and, through a friend, found the Presidio Center for Sustainable Solutions.

As COVID-19 forced communities indoors and online, University of Redlands School of Business & Society (SBS) Professor James (Jim) Pick saw firsthand something he’d spent 15 years trying to understand. “We were seeing disruption of what was known about the digital divide (the gap between those who have access to technology, the internet, and digital literacy training, and those who do not) — people who hadn’t used the latest technologies were being forced to use them,” he said.

Atmosphere. It’s one of the first things you notice when you walk through a city you’ve never visited. Seattle was no different. Walking down Pine Street toward Pike Place Market, I watched crowds weave between family-owned shops and storefronts. Then there was the original Starbucks, its long line waiting to squeeze into a tiny store. Small businesses existed alongside massive corporations and skyscrapers — all of it, somehow, grown from the same seed of entrepreneurship.