Carroll Community College

What is a Student Involvement Portfolio?

Your student involvement portfolio documents your college experience and highlights your achievements. It's record of your accomplishments from your time at Carroll, including your academic achievements, leadership experience, campus involvement and career preparation.  Your portfolio should be a reflection of you—therefore only you can decide what is important and applicable. 

Why Do I Need a Student Involvement Portfolio?

Your Student Involvement Portfolio reflects your academic and personal experience in college. It's also be an excellent resource as you work towards your future goals. Your portfolio can be used in a variety ways. Your portfolio can function as a concise document of your achievements to help you prepare essays, resumes and applications for academic and career goals. It can also be a great supplement to your resume when applying for career opportunities/internships. In addition, your portfolio can support your applications to transfer and graduate schools and demonstrate of your achievements when applying for scholarships and awards.

How Do I Create my Student Involvement Portfolio?

Your Student Involvement Portfolio can be created in three easy steps!

1. Collect items that showcase your skills and abilities using the guide provided. These items should be from a variety of areas, skills and experiences.
2. Select the materials you believe are the best demonstrations of your achievements.  While your portfolio should be inclusive of a variety of areas, it should also be concise.  Select materials that demonstrate achievement toward your goals (i.e. if you are using your portfolio to supplement a scholarship application, make sure your portfolio includes a demonstration of the  requirements for the scholarship like leadership development, service-learning, or academic achievement.)
3. Connect your materials to achievements. If you have documentation of a leadership workshop, connect the document to the learning that took place. You may want to use a summary sheet or reflection paper to highlight the growth and learning that resulted from the experience.

When Do I Create my Student Involvement Portfolio?

You should begin to build your portfolio in the beginning of the year, and add to it throughout the Challenge. Begin by creating an organizational system with files, folders or envelopes for each category of your portfolio. After each workshop, conference or project, collect or create something that accurately documents and explains your experience. A short personal reflection of your experience is a great compliment to  your documentation. Pictures can also be used to visually illustrate your participation in various events. Throughout the year, check your files to make sure you are successfully collecting enough materials in each category. It is better to have too many pieces of documentation for an event than too little. When you have an abundance of documentation you can select the best items for your portfolio.