SUMMER 2026 | 25 Ella Stemmer ’25 M.Ed.’27 participated in community service through her time as a former varsity basketball player. Stemmer served as a Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping (COACH) co-captain beginning in her sophomore year of her undergraduate studies. Now as a graduate student, she recognizes COACH as a “significant outlet to student-athletes.” “COACH provides not just connection to each other, but to our greater community,” Stemmer says. Student-athletes participating in community engagement have been a core part of the athletic program since 1991. The COACH program operates in accord with the National Consortium for Academics and Sport and reaches nearly 500 athletes who complete around 3,500 hours of service annually. Although the structure of the program has shifted, Lehigh athletes have multiple opportunities per semester to serve the community, often as a mentor through their perspective as athletes. Stemmer led groups of student-athletes through service at events like Wonderful World of Sports, a field day hosted at Broughal Middle School each semester. Lehigh Athletics also sponsored this year’s inaugural Lift for Hunger food drive where strength coaches lifted weights per pound of food donated. “Some of the stories of the students I’ve worked with still give me chills to this day,” Stemmer says. “I think AI and the heavy tech involvement we have as a society have made me continuously stay involved in our community.” Hernandez adds that current students and alumni alike “might not even realize the imprint that [they] have left, but [their] legacy stands strong.” Students also leave their mark through communitybased academic programs, like those in the office of Creative Inquiry. Joe Capuno ’28 has been a Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellow for the past two years, working on a collaborative project called “Mapping for Change—Rethinking Walkability and Accessibility in SouthSide Bethlehem for All Residents.” This project assesses the accessibility of the built environment for SouthSide Bethlehem residents, with Capuno and his teammates physically walking around the SouthSide and auditing what it’s like to walk the streets through capturing video. They watched out for sloping, green spaces, sidewalk conditions and whether people with different abilities can navigate the streets successfully. The team is now using Graphic Information System (GIS) technology to analyze their audits to provide visual, data-driven recommendations. In the second phase of the project, the students also created a survey to gather input from the community on walkability and accessibility in the SouthSide. Through this community-driven approach, the research aims to identify areas for improvement and highlight disparities. “As someone who wants to go into epidemiology, there’s only so much that you can do from just the numbers and data without the human context,” Capuno says. “Community engagement and my future career trajectory are closely intertwined.” Lehigh students mentor local elementary school students as part of the CSOʼs Homework Club. Center: The CSOʼs Spooktacular, a one-day program held annually, hosts families for a day of Halloween-themed fun. Crystal Flores ʼ26
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