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Student Opportunities

College Nine offers opportunities to lead, from student government to campus programs and community initiatives. Build skills, make connections, and help shape your college experience.

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Student Leadership

College Nine has its own student government or senate, serving as a voice for students, organizing events, allocating funding, and offering leadership opportunities. Whether you’re looking to share ideas, plan programs, or advocate for your peers, there’s a place for you!

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Student Scholarships & Funds

College Nine offers scholarships, awards, and project funding to support students in their academic, creative, and leadership goals. Some opportunities are open to all students, while others are specific to College Nine affiliates.

Staircase behind McHenry Library

Student Programs

College Nine offers programs and spaces that support learning, creativity, and community beyond the classroom. These opportunities help students grow academically, build connections, and develop skills for success.

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Garden Club

The College Nine and John R. Lewis College Garden Club builds community through gardening, sustainability, and social justice. Join weekly workdays, composting projects, and classes to get involved.

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Murals

College Nine and John R. Lewis College feature 35 murals reflecting themes of global perspectives, social justice, and community. Explore mural maps or apply to share your own creation through the mural program.

Find Your Community

Student Leadership


Leadership Skills

**We’re running into an issue where the audio is only working for folks who are signed into their UCSC account. If you run into this issue, try logging in with your UCSC account, or viewing the transcript at the link below.

Transcript for presentation audio.

Slide 1: Welcome! My name is Michelle Hernandez and I am delighted to present to you “Cultivating Skills” a guide to skill development through participation and involvement at College Nine and John R. Lewis College. In this presentation, we use the metaphor of a Leadership Garden to represent our vision on the process of student skill development. You will encounter our collective definitions of each of these skills and what they each look like at different levels. We all have our own leadership gardens but we tend to them as a community.

Slide 2: We hope that this presentation helps you: 

  • Assess where your growth is under each of these skills and which skills you wish to grow/tend to
  • Encourage you to find the right opportunities to help you tend your garden
  • We know that the more students are involved in their college experience (outside the classroom), the more likely they are to succeed.  We also know that employers and graduate schools are looking for students to articulate 21st Century skills, which is why we have designed this leadership certificate for you to track all of these skills and  involvements!
  • In addition, we hope that the definitions in this presentation will serve you as a tool to present, speak, and write about your skill growth in your work, such as in resumes, cover letters, and job applications, to name a few.

Slide 3: The harvest represents the following 7 skill themes. . Under each skill, there are sub skills, these represent the seeds. 

For example: For teamwork and collaboration we need seeds of self-awareness and leadership. 

The following slides will break down each one of these themes.

Slide 4: We acknowledge that every student brings different skills that have been developed at different levels and capacities. Here you can read about what each level looks like. Signing up for an opportunity is like entering your garden ready to water and tend to it. Each opportunity provides you with the different tools and support that you need depending on where you are. I.e watering cans, shovels, etc. They also offer different experiences, training, and levels of commitments.

(The remaining slides have no audio).


Clubs and Orgs

This video explores some of the clubs and groups we have here at Colleges Nine and Ten. You’ll hear directly from several groups you can join this fall!


Student Groups


College Nine offers a variety of student groups, leadership opportunities, and student employee positions to engage our students with the college’s theme of Social Justice and Community.

Last modified: Sep 08, 2025