Essential Education

Essential Education Experience for Community Partners

Partner With Us

Support Tomorrow’s Leaders—While Advancing Your Mission

We invite you to collaborate with Michigan Tech students and faculty through an Essential Education Experience (E3) course. These upper-division, hands-on classes connect students with real-world challenges—and your organization could be at the heart of that learning.

As a partner, you'll work to tackle an issue, explore a question, or pursue a goal that matters to your organization and community. These collaborative experiences give students a chance to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom while building professional skills like communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and cultural awareness.

For your organization, it's an opportunity to gain fresh ideas, expand capacity, and contribute to the education of future changemakers. Whether you’re a nonprofit, small business, government agency, or community group—your insight and collaboration can help shape a meaningful, high-impact learning experience.

Who Can Be an E3 Community Partner?

If you have a project, issue, or opportunity that would benefit from fresh perspectives and student engagement, you may be a great fit. E3 community partners include:

  • Local nonprofits, small businesses, and social service providers

  • Government agencies, neighborhood associations, and campus entities

  • Organizations across Michigan—or anywhere in the U.S. or the world

Whether you're based in the Keweenaw or across the globe, if you're open to collaborating with students and helping them grow while moving your mission forward, we want to hear from you.

students stopping at a table during a volunteer fair

group of volunteers standing around a wall of recycled tires

What Kind of Projects Are a Good Fit?

Ideal E3 projects:

  • Are carried out by upper-level students (typically juniors or seniors)

  • Fit within a 15-week academic semester

  • Align with disciplines in Social Sciences, Humanities, or the Arts (focused on people and the environment/economy)

Students have taught Spanish to middle school students, researched the incorporation of local food into a senior meals-on-wheels program, developed policy solutions to local issues, and written grant applications for community organizations.

If you have a challenge to solve—and are open to creative, student-driven solutions—we’d love to explore a partnership with you.

What Do Partners Do?

As a partner, you’ll:

  • Identify a real-world issue, opportunity, or need

  • Work with Michigan Tech faculty to define a project scope

  • Engage with students throughout the semester as they research, plan, and implement solutions

  • Provide feedback and help shape outcomes that benefit your organization

It’s a collaborative experience—built on mutual respect, shared goals, and community impact. For more inspiration of what the class partnership could look like, you can read more within our Levels of Engagement for E3 Partners resource.

E3 Partners:

Communicate

Effective communication is essential for E3 learning partnerships to flourish. Everyone has a vital role in crafting the partnership and should engage in open communication, being flexible as circumstances change.

Collaborate

E3 community partners collaborate with faculty and student teams to address a challenge your organization is having and work with you toward creating a tangible solution for your issue.

Co-teach

E3 community partners are co-teachers and collaborate with faculty and students in mutually beneficial ways. All partners are interested in each other’s shared goals and success for students, faculty, and partners in learning, growing, and finding solutions to the problems the organization faces.

"We spent all day working on our art installation at the school forest in Singӧ...Many community members showed up, including the principal of the folk school in Väddӧ, which was a very pleasant surprise! Our display had many interactive art pieces, allowing those who came out to contribute to the installation, as well as many things that were just meant to be felt and enjoyed. We had many thoughtful conversations with locals and enjoyed making (and sharing) a piece of art about the connection between our communities.

Creating this installation was very important to us all. It allowed us to make something larger than ourselves and then share it with others who care. We really appreciate everyone who came out to experience this project, as well as the Singӧ school for so graciously welcoming us into their community."

wooden sign that says "welcome" in swedish
Cora Mullins
current student, '28, environmental engineering
Study Away: Sustainability in Sweden