Application

There is one application cycle per year. Informational meetings will be held in April and September, 2026.

Application Opens: October 1, 2026
Application Deadline: November 22, 2026

As part of the application process, students must identify a high-impact experience and coordinate with a faculty/staff supervisor who will:

endorse their participation,
confirm Penn State organization affiliation,
help them refine their proposal, and
supervise them throughout the project/experience.

Students carrying less than a 2.5 GPA will generally not be considered for the Experiential Learning Social Impact Fellows program.

In addition to basic information about themselves and their supervisor, applicants should be prepared to furnish the following information when completing the application:

Project/Experience Information

Select project/experience funding category
- General Experiential Learning Fund—for all experience types
- Rockwell Fund—for experiences for students seeking to broaden their exposure to local journalism and gain significant practice in writing, recording, and broadcasting stories with strong community interest.
Project/experience title
Location of your project/experience
Anticipated start date of project/experience
Anticipated end date of project/experience
Please describe your project/experience in a few sentences.
Does this project/experience include travel? If yes, please explain and provide details.
To what extent does the project/experience address one or more of the Commonwealth Commitments (Inspire Discovery, Prepare Students, Serve Pennsylvania)?
Does this project/experience have a clear educational component, providing valuable learning?
How well does this project/experience connect to the NACE competencies?
Are there clearly defined and measurable outcomes and objective for this project/experience? How will the success be evaluated?
Please explain how funding is necessary to support your goals. This question will assist the selection committee to determine the level of need.
Have you applied for funding from other sources to assist with this project? If yes, please list them and the status of the funding.
Are there any class/course learning objectives connected to this experience? If yes, please list them.

Additional Questions

List five specific reasons why you want to be an Experiential Learning Social Impact Fellow.
How do you see the Impact Fellowship supporting your personal and professional aspirations? Please outline how this experience will help you develop at least two of the eight NACE competencies.
Describe a time when you saw a problem and took action to change it. What did you do? What did you learn?
List three references, preferably from Penn State, who can speak to your work ethic, character, etc. References will not be asked to submit a letter. They will only be contacted for a brief reference at the project mentor’s discretion as part of the selection process.

In addition to basic information about themselves and their supervisor, applicants should be prepared to furnish the following information when completing the application:

Project/Experience Information

Select project/experience funding category
- General Experiential Learning Fund—for all experience types
- Rockwell Fund—for experiences for students seeking to broaden their exposure to local journalism and gain significant practice in writing, recording, and broadcasting stories with strong community interest.
Project/experience title
Location of your project/experience
Anticipated start date of project/experience
Anticipated end date of project/experience
Please describe your project/experience in a few sentences.
Does this project/experience include travel? If yes, please explain and provide details.
To what extent does the project/experience address one or more of the Commonwealth Commitments (Inspire Discovery, Prepare Students, Serve Pennsylvania)?
Does this project/experience have a clear educational component, providing valuable learning?
How well does this project/experience connect to the NACE competencies?
Are there clearly defined and measurable outcomes and objective for this project/experience? How will the success be evaluated?
Please explain how funding is necessary to support your goals. This question will assist the selection committee to determine the level of need.
Have you applied for funding from other sources to assist with this project? If yes, please list them and the status of the funding.
Are there any class/course learning objectives connected to this experience? If yes, please list them.

Additional Questions

List five specific reasons why you want to be an Experiential Learning Social Impact Fellow.
How do you see the Impact Fellowship supporting your personal and professional aspirations? Please outline how this experience will help you develop at least two of the eight NACE competencies.
Describe a time when you saw a problem and took action to change it. What did you do? What did you learn?
List three references, preferably from Penn State, who can speak to your work ethic, character, etc. References will not be asked to submit a letter. They will only be contacted for a brief reference at the project mentor’s discretion as part of the selection process.

Application Requirements