Center for Civic Leadership honors community partners

Rice’s Center for Civic Leadership honored local leaders in city government, nonprofits and the private sector who work with the center to provide experiential learning opportunities for Rice students during an event called “The Brew” Jan 27.

More than 100 Rice Owls and other Houstonians flocked to the event at Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewery.

“Our undergraduate programs depend on our partners,” said Caroline Quenemoen, executive director of the CCL. “We wanted to celebrate the work of our partners and to create opportunities for new collaborations between the Rice campus and the Houston community to emerge.”

The Center for Civic Leadership helps Rice undergraduates to become engaged citizens through experiential learning programs in Houston, across the U.S. and around the world. Programs done in partnership with Houston organizations include Urban Immersion, Alternative Spring Break, the Houston Action Research Teams and the Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience.

“When you bring individuals who make an impact in the community under the same roof, you create a force that has the potential to foster large-scale impact,” said Jesse Hendrix, assistant director of Houston programs and partnerships at the CCL, who helped organize the event and served as emcee.

In addition to a number of specialty brews provided by Saint Arnold’s owner and Rice alum Brock Wagner ’87, participants in “The Brew” were able to enjoy barbecue, networking bingo and a prize raffle. Quenemoen said the event will become an annual tradition.