Office of Community-Based Learning Announces Student Fellows
The Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL) announces the third cohort of the CBL Student Fellows Program. CBL is an academic experience that involves students working with community partners — individuals, groups and local organizations — in ways that meet community-defined needs. The Student Fellowship Program aims to foster the professional and personal growth of students who are pursuing a CBL project alongside a faculty mentor.
Projects focus on a plethora of areas and interests such as exploring the benefits and limitations of AI use in English Language instruction, understanding the lived experiences of women and their healthcare needs, coordinating a career exploration workshop for youth in Scranton, assessing food insecurity in Scranton through program assessment and client experience, early language and literacy development for preschool children and identifying gaps in access to pet healthcare services and providing educational resources to pet owners in Scranton.
All projects are in collaboration with community partners and aim to improve or expand the services they provide. The fellowship program will run throughout the spring semester.
The Spring 2026 CBL Student Fellows are listed below, including their involvement and a description of each intended project.
Lauren DeSantis ’26
Lauren DeSantis ‘26 is a senior from Copiague, New York, in the College of Arts and Sciences studying English and philosophy. Her project focuses on understanding how free, accessible AI tools can support English Language Learning (ELL) instructors. The project centers on educator perspectives on the benefits and limitations of AI use in real classrooms.
By grounding her research in the lived realities of local instructors, the project aims to identify tools that are innovative and culturally responsive, and practical while considering the community’s existing resources. DeSantis seeks to offer a free training workshop to give instructors hands-on exposure to AI tools they choose to incorporate into their teaching. This project moves to inform broader conversations among educators, community organizations and institutions in the local Scranton community about how emerging technologies can be utilized responsibly to support language learning.
Jessica Ely '26
Jessica Ely ‘26 is a senior from Dimock in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has a major in biology, a minor in psychology and a health humanities concentration. Her project aims to use graphic medicine to center the lived experiences of women and other marginalized patients navigating healthcare in the Scranton community. The project highlights healthcare as a deeply human journey shaped by access, cost, policy and emotional well-being. Project partners include Maternal and Family Health Services and the Edward R. Leahy Jr. Clinic for the Uninsured.
Ely aims to hear from students and community members connected to organizations in the area through anonymous surveys to gather firsthand perspectives on women’s health concerns. These local perspectives will inform a public-facing educational comic that reflects the realities and challenges faced by people in the region, making complex topics more approachable and visible.
By distributing the comic at partner organizations and online, Ely aims to increase awareness and empower individuals to make better-informed decisions about their health. Grounded in The University of Scranton’s Jesuit values of cura personalis and social justice, this project blends art, public health and advocacy to foster a more informed and connected community.
Gianna Familetti '28
Gianna Familetti ‘28, is a sophomore from Dalton, in the Leahy College of Health Sciences. She has a major in communication sciences and disorders as well as a minor in Psychology. Gianna will be teaming up with Marywood University’s after-school program, Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success (STARS), to expand post-secondary education and career awareness through interactive, panel-style workshops.
The youth participating in the STARS program will have the opportunity to engage directly with students, faculty, and staff from The University of Scranton about college life, academic majors and diverse career pathways. By pairing peer-to-peer conversations with faculty insight and interactive campus activities, the workshops aim to make higher education feel more accessible and achievable for local students. Drawing on her own experience as a first-generation college student, Familetti brings empathy and mentorship to students facing uncertainty in their academic paths. This project supports the local community by empowering youth to envision meaningful futures.
Fiona Killeen '26
Fiona Killeen ‘26 , is a senior from Sparkill, New York, in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has a major in psychology, along with a minor in political science. Her project, Navigating Nourishment, addresses food insecurity in the Scranton community by focusing on program assessment and client experience at Friends of the Poor. The project centers on the experiences of community members navigating shifting eligibility requirements and access barriers. Through the development and administration of a client survey, Killeen is examining how effectively the pantry meets the needs of the community it serves. By analyzing client feedback and overall program effectiveness, this project aims to understand how local food assistance organizations can respond to community needs with greater accessibility and dignity. Grounded in the Jesuit value of being men and women for others, this work promotes dignity, equity and care for the whole person.
Tia Varghese ‘27
Tia Varghese ‘27, is a junior from Catonsville, Maryland in the Leahy College of Health Sciences. She is majoring in communication sciences and disorders. Her project, Little Voices, Big Futures, supports early language and literacy development for preschool children from multicultural families in the Scranton community. She is teaming up with The University of Scranton Early Learning Center to provide weekly interactive language sessions focused on storytelling, music and play, alongside take-home kits in English, Spanish, and Hindi to extend learning into the home. The program draws on evidence-based practices in early language intervention to ensure activities are engaging and accessible for children of varied language backgrounds and abilities. This project responds directly to a community-identified need for equitable early childhood support by addressing early language gaps, which can hold long-term academic and social consequences. Varghese aims to empower families with tools and strategies to support language growth at home, while preschool staff gain a sustainable model for inclusive language enrichment.
Olivia Zrebiec '28
Olivia Zrebiec ’28 is a sophomore from Belford, New Jersey in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is majoring in biology with minors in biochemistry and history; as well as being on the Pre-Veterinary track. Through her project, Care for Every Paw, she aims to partner with the Scranton Area Community Foundation’s NEPA Animal Welfare Collaborative to identify and address gaps in access to preventative pet healthcare and veterinary education in underserved Scranton communities. By working with the NEPA Animal Welfare Collective, Olivia aims to identify common preventable medical issues, seasonal trends, and patterns linked to environmental factors. This data-driven approach would allow shelters to better anticipate medical needs and use limited resources more efficiently.
Zrebiec hopes to develop accessible materials, such as pamphlets and social media content as well as engaging with the public through workshops or information tables at adoption events. This project extends care to the full ecosystem of families, communities and animals that provide much-needed companionship and emotional support.
The Office of Community-Based Learning is excited to see how these programs develop and to see the impact that they will have on the Scranton community. For more information on CBL at the University visit www.scranton.edu/cbl
