Graduating Stanford students commit to service in Bay Area communities

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Graduating Stanford students commit to service in Bay Area communities

A look at the 2024 Stanford graduates who will spend a year working for organizations that promote the common good. (Courtesy: The Community Impact Fellowship)

Stanford’s Community Impact Fellows program places graduating seniors
in Bay Area nonprofits, allowing them to gain
valuable experience while serving the community.

The tradition continues this summer, as Stanford has helped place 18 members of Stanford’s class of 2024 in positions at non-profit organizations serving the public good in East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, Redwood City, San José and beyond.

One of those fellows is Caroline Clement, who graduated with a degree in biology this past June and will spend her first year out of college at SIRUM, a non-profit that improves access to medication for people who cannot afford it.

“I wanted to start my career with a foundation and background in local service and commitment,” said Clement. SIRUM, short for Supporting Initiatives for Redistributing Unused Medicines, was founded by Stanford graduates nearly two decades ago to provide unused, surplus medication to people in need. They work within each state’s laws governing donation of unused, unexpired medication, including California, and facilitate the collection of unused drugs with Santa Clara County’s Better Health Pharmacy. The medications are then provided to people in need of those specific drugs, even those who lack insurance, free of charge.

“Given the amount of patients SIRUM aids, I hope to make a positive impact serving communities and individuals that too often go disregarded,” said Clement.

Luis Quiroga and Elizabeth Wells of the Foundation for a College Education do an activity together at Stanford after explaining how the organization helps students go to college and be successful. (Courtesy: The Community Impact Fellowship)

The Community Impact Fellows program, which is part of the university’s Haas Center for Public Service, has been supporting graduating Stanford students to work in nonprofit organizations, government agencies or companies that serve the public interest since 2003.

The program selects Stanford applicants with a deep commitment to public service, and provides them career guidance and support so they can make even greater contributions to the charitable organizations where they are placed.

“The Community Impact Fellows program embodies Stanford’s goal of promoting the public good,” said Yi-Ching Ong, executive director of the Haas Center. “Our fellows are not only gaining invaluable perspectives and professional experience, but also making meaningful contributions to communities in need, especially in the Bay Area. We are very grateful to our partner organizations for nurturing our fellows and inspiring them to continue integrating public service in their paths beyond Stanford.”

Carly Smith, who graduated in 2023, was placed with Ravenswood Family Health Network, a network of healthcare clinics in the MidPeninsula area that provide care to people in the community regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status.

“I wanted to give myself more time to explore the surrounding area and immerse myself in the community as an individual, rather than as a Stanford student,” Smith said. She is taking her experience working directly with patients with a new role at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.

Luis Quiroga was so effective as a fellow at the Foundation for a College Education, an East Palo Alto nonprofit known as FCE, that he was hired when his fellowship ended in June. He said his ability to coach students who were the first in their families to attend college was informed by his own positive experiences in navigating Stanford.

“We want our students to become leaders of their own lives, but we want them to know that asking for help is not only OK, but it is also necessary,” said Quiroga, who has become the go-to guy in helping a caseload of 30 students strategize how to get help and build their academic support network.

Luis Quiroga describes to community organizations and Stanford faculty and staff how he uses his own experiences navigating college to advise students who are the first in their families to go to college.

As the new fellows settle into their year-long placements this summer, they know that their roles are more than a job. It’s a commitment to addressing some of their adopted communities’ biggest challenges. The graduates will work for a diverse group of organizations, including San Jose’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, Donors Choose, El Concilio de San Mateo, Ikaso Consulting, Mission Investors Exchange, Partnership for Public Service, Ravenswood Family Health Network, and Redwood City Together.

For Clement, her role puts her in direct contact with local charitable clinics and healthcare providers who understand the consequences when patients cannot afford prescribed medication, improving the quality of existing partnerships and forming new relationships with community partners.

“The Community Impact Fellowship is the perfect base on which to build upon a lifelong undertaking in service work,” Clement said. “You learn so much about the needs of the community and gain tools about how best to address those needs.”

Stanford is committed to supporting our community by advancing interdisciplinary teaching and research, providing world-class medical care, and extending knowledge and discovery to our neighbors. Stanford invites its neighbors to enjoy its open lands and participate in learning, athletic, and arts events on campus.

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