Earn a Scholar Certificate by Studying Your Own Community

At Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, every new student now has the chance to earn a SCHOLAR Certificate by turning their own cultures, experiences and stories into college‑level projects that count toward their degree.

The SCHOLAR Certificate – which stands for Stewardship, Community History and Opportunities for Leadership and Academic Readiness – is a 10-11 credit certificate program that gives students structured, hands-on experience aimed at building professional skills and strengthening local partnerships. It is now required for all incoming Bloomfield College students, with transfer students able to opt in.

By asking students to do rigorous, research‑based work about communities they know best, the certificate is designed to build academic confidence and stronger writing and critical thinking skills from the very first semester. This foundation enables them to complete community‑engaged projects embedded in SCHOLAR‑designated courses throughout the curriculum.

The initiative reflects Bloomfield’s mission as a Predominantly Black and Hispanic‑Serving Institution, helping students connect their coursework with the histories, identities, neighborhoods and organizations that shape their lives.

What ‘Community Co‑Design’ Means

At the heart of the certificate is “community co-design,” the concept faculty developed to guide SCHOLAR courses, says Nora McCook, Cyrus H. Holley Professor in Applied Ethics and Associate Professor of Writing. McCook, whose background is in critical literacy studies and community engagement, sees it as a way to make learning deeply personal and genuinely collaborative.

“If students care about what they’re doing, if they recognize that this is about them, but also about them giving back, it really is powerful to set that tone, right at the beginning of a college career,” McCook says.

The certificate builds on three core elements: 

1. Reflection and self-awareness
2. Reciprocity and exchange
3. Culture and history

The first two come from long-established community engagement traditions. The third – culture and history – is the distinctive piece Bloomfield adds in terms of community engagement, scholarship and practice.

The first course to carry the SCHOLAR designation was Writing 105, Bloomfield’s first-year writing course, which McCook and First-Year Writing Director Freddie Harris piloted last summer. They shifted the curriculum so that students completed a multi-part autoethnographic project centered on a community they belong to.

Odyeli’s Story: Culture, Cuisine and Community

Odyeli Ramos Tobar was part of the first group of students to undertake the project. A first-generation college student from West Orange, New Jersey, she chose Bloomfield for its Nursing program and small size, and found her first writing assignment unexpectedly meaningful.

Odyeli chose the Hispanic community she grew up in, but decided to focus even more specifically on pupusas, the traditional Salvadoran dish that connects her to her home and its indigenous history. She researched how pupusas are made, where the best ones are found, and the centuries-old traditions and rituals around them.

“I was really excited about my research because I grew up with pupusas,” she says of her childhood in El Salvador. “It was a tradition for me to buy it every weekend.”

For her, that made the writing feel different from a typical assignment. “You’re not doing it because someone told you to, it’s because it comes from you.” That sense of ownership, her professors note, is exactly what helps students push their writing, research and analysis to a higher level.

Growing a SCHOLAR Campus

For faculty, the pilot confirmed they had tapped into something powerful. McCook believes that in an era of AI, it matters that students see the work as both personal and communal, because that investment helps them do more authentic, deeper academic work.

As the model developed, Bloomfield’s leadership saw that it expressed something essential about the college. Today, Writing 105 serves as the first required SCHOLAR course for incoming students, and Bloomfield is expanding SCHOLAR electives so students can complete the certificate on top of their degree.

Faculty across disciplines have stepped forward to adapt courses. Planned SCHOLAR courses include Introduction to Informatics, a section of Intro to Game Design, a Theater in Practice course that recently culminated in a public monologue performance on the steps of Talbott Hall, Becoming a Changemaker – Intro to Social Innovation, Advocacy in Action, and special topics courses in Writing and Africana Studies. A community garden course with Newark-based nonprofit STEAM Urban is also continuing as a SCHOLAR course.

In Nursing, Foundations of Nursing and Community Nursing will both be SCHOLAR courses, giving transfer students to that program a path to complete the certificate with just one additional class. 

“Community-building is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, but it’s also about heart, ethics and practical skills students can carry into their careers,” McCook says.

Ready to Start Your College Journey?

Since Bloomfield College officially became Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, students have gained expanded academic options, more student life activities and access to Montclair’s resources while still keeping their home base on a smaller campus.

Learn more about Bloomfield College of Montclair State University.