September 16, 2025
What happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus: Why undergraduate experiences matter for everyone
Every fall, new Huskies arrive at the University of Washington — curious, driven and a little nervous. More than 25% of our first-year students are the first in their families to seek a four-year degree. Of the UW’s undergraduate population, 55% receive financial aid, 74% are Washington state residents, representing all 39 Washington counties. Throughout their undergraduate journey, thousands will plug into research and community engagement, gaining experience and developing character traits that prepare them for their future.
Why should you care? Because it’s not just about current students. What happens at the University of Washington doesn’t stay on campus. In just a few fast years, undergraduates will leave with more than a diploma: They’ll carry with them the persistence, empathy and civic responsibility our workplaces, communities and democracy demand.
Undergraduate experiences beyond the classroom, like research, community engagement and leadership education enliven and animate classroom experiences and bring students into the breadth and depth of the UW.
We readily see the ripple effects of undergraduate education, from the alum who teaches your child multiplication, to the nurse who cares for your parent, or the software engineer at your office who solves a thorny problem. However, undergraduate experiences beyond the classroom, like research, community engagement and leadership education have the potential to become difference-makers for students and the world they graduate into. They enliven and animate classroom experiences and bring students into the breadth and depth of the UW, one of America’s leading research universities. Teaching the next generation the foundations of research and service for the public good matters to Washington state residents personally, publicly, profoundly for decades to come.
Research, community engagement and leadership education — the areas we focus on in our work — are integral to students’ career preparation and teach skills, habits and mindsets that AI can’t generate. Undergraduate researchers learn persistence, flex the muscle that discerns fact from fiction, apply knowledge across a range of complex problems, and so much more. Students who learn to lead through communities wrangle with ethics, deepen their self-awareness, practice respectful dialogue, and develop a sustained commitment to our civic spaces.
One undergraduate researcher explored how people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s feel about different interventions and saw firsthand how those facing this disease have different opinions and approaches to the idea of memories. She was surprised to learn that some viewed forgetting as a gift. She plans on taking the lesson of being curious about different perspectives to her journalism career.
Another undergraduate volunteered in schools, helping students apply to post-secondary education. In this service and leadership work, he practiced public speaking and community-listening skills. He’s brought these skills to his law career representing victims of crime. He learned that listening and effective communication builds trust between communities and the justice system.
Sophie Pierszalowski, left, is the director of the UW’s Office of Undergraduate Research. Fran Lo, right, is the executive director of the Community Engagement and Leadership Education Center at the UW.
Let’s look at the big picture again. By 2031, an estimated 72% of jobs will require education beyond high school. Students who take part in research, community engagement and leadership education are more likely to persist to graduation. These opportunities help students articulate their why, which sets them apart in scholarship applications, job interviews, graduate school applications and more. More than two-thirds of UW graduates stay in Washington state. Undergraduate research, community engagement and leadership development teach the habits of heart and mind we should expect from our business community, politicians, civic leaders and the neighbors next door.
Summer’s over and fall is here. We are delighted to begin again — as we do at the start of every new school year — with this newest group of Huskies. We can’t wait to see what inspires them within and beyond the classroom and, most importantly, how they will contribute to the world beyond them. There is no time like the present, for their future and ours.
Fran Lo is the executive director of the Community Engagement and Leadership Education Center at the UW. Sophie Pierszalowski is the director of the UW’s Office of Undergraduate Research.