From Capitol Hill to Mellon Mays: A Journey in Engaged Scholarship

With guidance and resources from the Center for Engaged Liberal Arts (CELA), Aina Tasso ’27 has drawn meaningful connections between her coursework and community engagement, learning how best to serve the causes that matter most to her.

Before coming to Oberlin, Tasso was selected for the Bonner Scholars Program, Oberlin’s community service scholarship program that mentors undergraduate students as they develop as leaders and agents of change in their communities and beyond. As a Bonner Scholar, Tasso volunteered with the Oberlin City School District through the America Reads/Counts Program, tutoring students in grades K–9 in math. She also worked with the El Centro Volunteer Initiative, which connects Oberlin students, faculty, and community members with Latine residents in Lorain County through community engagement and educational outreach.

Tasso later continued her commitment to service through a winter term micro-internship in the U.S. Congress, where she advocated for Somali refugees in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. Another winter term micro-internship took her to Medellín, Colombia, where she studied peace processes and justice through sustainability initiatives.

Wanting to dive deeper into her coursework on the experiences of Afro-Latine women in higher education, Tasso applied to the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program. Mellon Mays fellows receive two years of close mentorship to pursue research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Tasso’s project focuses on raising awareness and education about the Afro-Peruvian community.

Through her combined coursework, service, and research, Tasso has grown to understand the value of co-curricular experiences as she prepares for a life and career in community stewardship. “While having access to knowledge on a wide variety of topics is enriching, being able to apply them in a tangible way allows me to see the impact of a well-rounded education,” she says. “My time at Oberlin and my engagement with different CELA offices have also made me realize that theory without application does nothing, but action without information can harm the people you are working with.

“The opportunities I have gotten through CELA have allowed me to see the real-world applications of theories I’ve learned in various classes,” she adds. “These experiences not only allow me to build upon and improve my skills, but also to contribute meaningfully to the organizations that I am a part of.”

After Oberlin, Tasso plans to pursue a PhD and continue engaging with social issues as both an academic and a public servant.

Tasso is a nominee for the CELA Award, recognizing outstanding engagement and achievement in connecting academic pursuits with experiential learning.