The Epicenter of Experience
August 07, 2025
Celebrating its fifth anniversary, Kathleen W. Rollins Hall is transforming the student experience at Rollins.
Securing world-class internships. Exploring the world through study abroad. Galvanizing social impact. More students than ever are taking full advantage of these opportunities created by Kathleen W. Rollins Hall (KWRH), where R-card access has increased by nearly 30 percent over the past three years. Recent graduate Coco Marshall ’24 was among the first students to tap into this dedicated hands-on learning hub to gain the kind of real-world experience that employers demand. The environmental studies and social entrepreneurship double major participated in a sustainability-focused field study in Portland, Oregon, served as the president of EcoRollins, and held multiple internships, recently leveraging her experience into a full-time position as a sustainability specialist for the City of Winter Park. Her success story is just one of hundreds to emerge from KWRH, where students are empowered to connect passion with purpose through hands-on learning, meaningful mentorship, and bold exploration.
Pathways to Possibility
Programs and events in KWRH have surged by 92 percent over the past three years, fueled by high-impact offerings like the Gateway Fellows paid internship program and the trailblazing Women in Finance program. The latter opens doors for female students like international business major Sonia Canizalez ’24—now a compliance analyst at financial services firm StoneX—to secure internships and explore career pathways in the finance sector.
Real-World Ready
Rollins’ Center for Career & Life Planning helps prepare students for immediate success and long-term leadership through everything from one-on-one advising to internships. Just ask international business major Michael Lagessie ’24, who parlayed a highly selective internship at Universal Orlando Resort his senior year into a full-time role at the theme-park giant as a fixed asset accountant. Lagessie is one of countless examples of Rollins students who’ve worked with CCLP to gain essential real-world experience. In fact, in the Class of 2023 alone, 69 percent of students completed an internship—10 points higher than the national average.
Empowering Social Impact
Rollins joined the Ashoka U Changemaker Campus network in 2012 as Florida’s first member. The designation was recently renewed thanks in large part to initiatives and programs like the Social Impact Hub and the Department of Social Entrepreneurship, two of KWRH’s signature programs. The College is one of only 29 Ashoka U Changemaker campuses across the country.
Life Is for Service
The Center for Leadership & Community Engagement engages students with issues facing communities in the 21st century through service-oriented projects like SPARC Day, Immersion, Bonner Leaders, and the Democracy Project. In 2023-24, students performed 38,600 community service hours with more than 200 nonprofit partners—a 77 percent increase from the previous year.
Learning Without Borders
The largest number of students to study abroad in Rollins history will embark this fall semester, choosing from more than 90 international programs everywhere from London to Rwanda. It’s no wonder that Rollins regularly ranks in the top 10 in the nation among master’s-granting institutions for the percentage of students who study abroad.
Finding a Voice
Rollins’ four student-run media outlets— WPRK, The Sandspur, The Independent, and Brushing—now share a dedicated space in KWRH that has helped students like Siobhan Cooney ’22 carve out meaningful careers in media and communications. Cooney leveraged her experience as the editor-in-chief of Brushing to land a role as the assistant director of content strategy at Georgetown University.
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