Are you prepared to give back?

As a Nichols student, you’re encouraged to be of service in the larger community. We believe that being a good neighbor is serious business.

Individually, Nichols students donate hundreds of hours to community causes each year, including:

  • Providing recreation for prekindergarten students at the Green Acres Child Care Center
  • Raising funds for cancer research through the Walk for the Cure and Wear Red Day
  • Participating in a Red Cross blood drive every semester
  • Contributing money and toys to the Marines Toys for Tots Foundation
  • Donating proceeds from recycling initiatives to local nonprofit organizations
  • Visiting seniors and helping with exercise activities at local senior centers
  • Reading to children at Shiners Hospitals for Children
  • Providing athletic sport clinics for local elementary schools
  • Feeding cats, exercising dogs and cleaning at local animal shelters
  • Donating food to the Webster-Dudley Food Share and the Worcester County Food Bank
  • Cleaning up vacant lots through Worcester’s Earth Day event

Youth Education

Student volunteers working with puppies. As a campus, Nichols organizes many youth education initiatives in surrounding towns:

Nichols Kids2College

A six-week program that encourages low-income and minority students in the sixth grade to explore careers and see college as a real option. Nichols works closely with teachers, coordinates classroom speakers, and hosts students for a campus tour, lunch and graduation.

Webster Boys & Girls Club

Nichols students provide homework help and lead activities for children in the after-school program of the Marilyn and Gerald Fels Clubhouse. Nichols also organizes a Halloween extravaganza for more than 100 children, which has been recognized with a Community Engagement Award.

Pipeline to Post-Secondary Education

Local 10th graders spend five Fridays away from the classroom conducting state-contracted environmental research on the Quinebaug-Shetucket National Heritage Corridor and analyzing the data under the guidance of Nichols faculty.

Y.O.U. Inc. Upward Bound Program

A residential college preparatory experience for low-income high school students in Southbridge. Upward Bound has a college placement rate of 95%. The program has received the George I. Alden Award at the annual Celebration of Higher Education in Central Massachusetts.