UVA Faculty Bring Community-Engaged Teaching to Life Through Starr Hill Pathways
By Sydney Shuler, Center for Community Partnerships
Community-engaged teaching at the University of Virginia is driving real community impact, fostering strong connections between students at UVA and across the Charlottesville and Albemarle County region. Through partnerships with the Center for Community Partnerships’ Starr Hill Pathways (SHP) college and career readiness program, UVA faculty are reinforcing primary subjects for undergraduate students by assigning them to tutor and mentor local students.
Starr Hill Pathways is a multi-year program that connects middle and high school students, primarily from first-generation or low-income families, with career exploration, academic enrichment, and mentorship opportunities. According to the 2024-25 SHP Annual Report, SHP is quickly growing, with 265 students guided by 29 UVA and community pathway partners in the program’s fourth year of operation. As part of the UVA Civic & Community Engagement Program, SHP partners with faculty across disciplines to expose students to hands-on learning opportunities and expand their sense of what’s possible.
One of the program’s longest-running collaborations is with Professor Esther Poveda Moreno of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Since 2020, Poveda Moreno has paired students in her classes, Writing for Social Justice and Change and Sí se puede: Community Engagement in Spanish-Speaking Charlottesville, with students at Albemarle High School for in-school tutoring and mentorship. Initially developed to support remote learning during the pandemic, the model continues today as an in-person experience, giving SHP students structured time for both academic support and community connection.
“These courses have transformed not only my students, but me as well,” Poveda Moreno says. “Stepping outside the university bubble into the community has challenged us to confront inequities, listen deeply, and grow through reciprocity. I’ve seen students shift paths or affirm their callings, pursuing careers in service and advocacy, while my own teaching and academic work has become more connected and meaningful.”
What makes the partnership especially impactful is its dual focus: UVA students gain hands-on experience in language practice while engaging with Spanish-speaking SHP students and the community, while SHP students receive consistent tutoring and mentorship from near-peer role models. With the support of the Mellon Race, Place & Equity Program and departmental support, which includes covering student-related costs and bringing community leaders and guest speakers to class, the model is designed to be accessible, sustainable, and replicable.
More recently, SHP students have taken a hands-on approach to mathematics through a partnership with Professors J.D. Quigley and Sara Maloni in UVA’s geometry lab. Beginning in the 2023 academic year, SHP students began attending on-Grounds lab sessions where they explored math through puzzles, logic challenges, and geometric construction that reached beyond the boundaries of a traditional classroom. SHP also assisted in arranging site visits to geometry classes at Monticello High School, connecting learning across the community.
The goal of the UVA Geometry Lab is to provide UVA undergraduates with hands-on experiences in mathematics. Supervised by UVA Math Department faculty and graduate students, students in the Geometry Lab are invited to experiment with and visualize mathematical concepts in different ways.
“Working with the students from Starr Hill Pathways has been a fantastic opportunity for the students in the UVA Geometry Lab to showcase what they have learned and create excitement for math outside of the usual K-12 curriculum,” Quigley said. “It is also a wonderful chance for them to ‘become the teachers’ for a couple of hours, thinking critically about how to communicate with different audiences.”
In the second year of collaboration, the partnership is expanding even further. About 20 UVA students enrolled in Quigley’s Transition to Higher Mathematics community-engaged course will tutor SHP students for one hour per week, reinforcing their own mathematical and technical communication skills while providing one-on-one academic support. Tutors are trained in advance by SHP staff and complete UVA Youth Protection training, while SHP student interns coordinate logistics and scheduling.
Quigley says it is essential for students to practice communicating math outside of the classroom. Tutoring students in Starr Hill Pathways’ tutoring program enables students from Transition to Higher Math to practice explaining mathematical concepts at a more advanced level. It also allows them to learn about the local school system and challenges some students face when learning math.
“Working with UVA faculty and students is a tremendous, mutually beneficial resource for our SHP students and UVA students,” said Lucy Montalvo, Director of Starr Hill Pathways. “It allows UVA students to learn about the Charlottesville community while providing SHP students with academic and mentoring support.”
Together, these partnerships demonstrate the impact of faculty leadership in fostering community-engaged research and teaching. Through sustained collaboration, programs like SHP can continue to bridge UVA resources with community needs, creating a university culture where meaningful service and academic excellence are inextricably linked.
Read the 2024-25 Starr Hill Pathways Annual Report here: https://www.flipsnack.com/6D66EAEEFB5/starr-hill-pathways-annual-report-2024-2025/full-view.html.