The Center for Civic Responsibility and Leadership is catapulting voter registration and civic engagement across the Millersville campus, one voter at a time.
Located in the Huntington House, the CCRL is an organization that allows any student to participate in becoming civically active within the community.
“Being civically active is so important. It means contributing your thoughts and engaging in our democracy. In such a divisive political landscape, it can be intimidating to participate in any civic conversation,” wrote Nicholas Keilholtz, who is a CCRL Fellow. “That’s what we do best – we get people informed and ready to vote! What makes CCRL so great is that we’re non-partisan, and ready to hear your voice no matter what!”
Anyone can volunteer to support the efforts of the CCRL, but many take the route of becoming a CCRL Fellow.
“In the past, fellowship was restricted to government majors, and students had to be invited to apply,” wrote Sidney Bernhardt, a CCRL Fellow. “Since then, CCRL has been opened up for everyone, since government involvement and political engagement affects all majors and is for everyone!”
A variety of Fellows in the CCRL are far from being government majors, such as current Fellow, Hailey Peirce.
“I am a marine biology major, and as someone concerned with ocean policy, I easily found ways to use the opportunities CCRL provides to fit my career goals,” wrote Peirce. “I have made many connections through CCRL, including one that led me to serve on Governor Shapiro’s Commission for Next Generation Engagement. Civic issues affect everyone, and every major can find connections in CCRL.”
These Fellows are in charge of arranging events on-campus and making sure Millersville is civically engaged. This can be seen through a variety of events hosted through CCRL, including Constitution Week, voter registration drives, pizza and policy chats, and many more.
“At our events, students can learn about local, state, and federal elections and get voting information. In some cases, we’ve even been able to provide transportation for students on election day to the polls!” wrote Alana Halliday, a CCRL Fellow. “We’ve done some tabling events on sustainability, providing handouts and reusable bags for registered voters, along with pocket constitutions and other handouts. We also love directing students to educational resources on whatever issues they find important or want to learn more about so that they can make informed decisions and come to their own conclusions about things!”
The CCRL takes part in the American Democracy Project, a multi-campus initiative with aims of increasing the voting rate on college campuses. On top of this initiative, the organization has been conducting research regarding civic engagement across Millersville’s campus.
“Dr. Granruth and I just presented last year’s research and our current focus at the 2025 PASSHE Summit. To summarize, we surveyed civic engagement among Millersville students before the 2024 election,” wrote Hailey Peirce, a current CCRL Fellow. “We are continuing this research with a similar survey to assess how civic engagement may have changed after the 2024 election. The survey is still being distributed, but we will begin to clean and analyze our preliminary data as the semester comes to an end.”
The CCRL is still accepting survey responses for this research. To contribute to this ongoing assessment, the QR code leading to this survey can be found within this article section.
To learn more, follow the CCRL on Instagram @millersville_ccrl or send questions to ccrl@millersville.edu.
