Complementary Learning
Complementary Learning
Complementary Learning is an integral part of the Honors experience at RIT that supports student participation in activities that complement traditional academic work.
There are three main categories of activity that are approved for complementary learning: service and volunteerism with a registered non-profit, leadership activity, and engaging in the intellectual and cultural life of the University. Activities that are academic in nature or are considered professional development are not approved for complementary learning. Check the Honors Handbook for more detailed information about what counts as complementary learning, how to report what you've done, and how many hours you need each year to maintain good standing in the program. Here are a few reminders to help you stay on track:
- The complementary learning cycle runs from Sept. 1 - Aug. 31 each year
- Complementary learning is an annual requirement that does not accumulate year over year (check your entry year handbook for specific information)
- The maximum number of hours you can submit for any one activity or for activities with a single organization is 15 hours
- Hours should be submitted contemporaneously, within a month of the activity
- Progress towards your annual requirement is checked after the cycle closes in August. If at that time you have not met the annual requirement you will be placed into conditional standing and will have one semester to make up any deficit from the previous cycle
Submit your complementary learning here.
Need help submitting your complementary learning hours?
Current and Ongoing Opportunities:
Please see below events and activities that are approved by the Honors Program office for Complementary Learning. This webpage is updated regularly to add new opportunities - but they are in no way the only activities you can take part in to earn complementary learning hours. Please reach out to the Honors office if you have any questions.
Conversation with Charles Gaines and Ellen Tani Artist Talk
This event will be happening off-campus at the Memorial Art Gallery. There is a free shuttle which will be leaving from RIT's North Bus Shelter in Parking Lot E at 5:30pm dropping off students at the Memorial Art Gallery. It will return to RIT from the MAG at 8pm. The shuttle is first come, first serve, so if you want a seat arrive early with your RIT ID.
Thursday, March 26, 2026 - 6:30 pm
Memorial Art Gallery Auditorium
500 University Ave
Rochester, NY
Free // All Welcome
Into the ROC: College Night at the Rochester Museum & Science Center
Get ready for another unforgettable night of exploration, fun, and discovery at Rochester Museum & Science Center. Dive into hands-on exhibits, enjoy planetarium shows, and meet other students from around the area. Perfect for a study break or a fun night out with friends!
Don’t miss this chance to experience the museum like never before. This event is free for RIT students - bring your student ID and your curiosity! Planetarium tickets are free for the first 15 people in attendance at each show.
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Room/Location: Rochester Museum & Science Center (657 East Avenue Rochester, NY 14607)
The Daffodil Project at Mt. Hope Cemetery
Join Into the ROC as we help The Daffodil Project clean up for spring and prepare for thousands of spring blooms! The Mount Hope Cemetery is where many famous Rochesterians are buried, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. The Daffodil Project was started in 2022 and has planted over 70,000 daffodil bulbs throughout the cemetery as a sign of hope and peace. Projects for the day may include raking leaves, cleaning pathways, and laying mulch.
A bus will leave promptly from the Sentinel Statue at 10am. Please dress accordingly for working in the outdoors -- closed toe shoes, a rain jacket, and long pants are highly encouraged. Please bring water and a light snack if you need!
Contact: Victoria Cirillo, vrcrli@rit.edu
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Room/Location: Mt Hope Cemetery
Asian Deaf Club Banquet
The Asian Deaf Club is looking for students who are interested in volunteering during their 37th Anniversary Banquet. The theme of the banquet is Lotus and Koi. Volunteers would be assigned tasks such as checking in guests and serving food, and they would receive free admission to the event. The dress code is business casual to formal attire. The event will take place Saturday, April 4, from 5 PM - 9 PM in SDC 1300/1310 (the Student Development Center on NTID campus).
Contact asiandeafclubrit@rit.edu for more information.
April 4, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Student Development Center (SDC) 1300/1310
Service/Volunteerism
Into the ROC: Flower City Pickers
Join Into the ROC at the Rochester Public Market as we support Flower City Pickers' mission of feeding people, not landfills. Volunteers will help sort, distribute, and deliver food to those who need it most. There will also be time to explore the market after we are done!
Free transportation will be provided. The van will depart from the Sentinel Statue promptly at 12:30pm! Please be sure to dress appropriately for the weather (comfortable clothes that can get dirty and closed toed shoes!) and bring a water bottle.
Contact: Victoria Cirillo, vrcrli@rit.edu
12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Room/Location: Rochester Public Market
Graduate Showcase
The Graduate Showcase at RIT happens annually and is an event where students can share their intellectual activities with the community. Volunteers are needed for this event to run smoothly every year. Volunteers help welcome guests, support sessions and assists with logistics throughout the day. As a thank-you, volunteers will receive a small token of appreciation, and refreshments will be provided.
Sign up to volunteer here. Find about more about the event, including the schedule here. Event contact: Christie Leone | chleme@rit.edu
April 9, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Campus Center & SAU
Service and Volunteerism
Agape Haven of Abundance
Agape Haven is offering food baskets to the community on the second Wednesday of March and April, and they need as many helping hands as as humanly possible to create and distribute them! Location: 289 Driving Park Avenue, Rochester NY 14613. Reach out to the contacts listed below for more details.
Contact: Julia Oakley
Phone (585) 434-0109
email: info@agapehavenofabundance.org
ASCE Upstate NY-Canada Student Symposium
The ASCE Upstate NY-Canada Student Symposium at RIT this upcoming April 9th-11th. This is a multi-day event for feats of Civil Engineering, where students create things like Steel Bridges and Concrete Canoes, and compete against each other in various events/categories. This is a region wide event that brings over 300 faculty, students, and professionals together (12 universities are attending!). There are various volunteer positions available such as: registration desk, competition support, parking attendant, First aid, food and beverage support, etc. Volunteers get free food and a t-shirt if they sign up early enough!
For more information you can: learn more here, signup at this link, or reach out to sam3181@rit.edu.
April 9-11
Gene Polisseni Center
Service and Volunteerism
Relay For Life | Cancer Walk
More than just a fundraising walk, Relay For Life is a movement. For 40 years, passionate supporters have come together to advance the American Cancer Society’s vision: ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. Relay For Life celebrates survivors, honors caregivers, remembers loved ones lost, and raises funds to ensure that everyone has the chance to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
Take the chance to volunteer for the cause by clicking here
April 11-12, 6:00 PM - 6:00 AM
Gordon Field House
Service and Volunteerism
Dorothy Waugh: Design Pioneer, Renaissance Woman with Mark Resnick
Dorothy Waugh’s poster campaign for the National Park Service (NPS) during the depths of the Great Depression was as trailblazing as it was masterful. The government had never before entrusted such an ambitious promotion to a solo designer, let alone a female modernist working in a male-dominated bureaucracy. Yet Waugh’s work for the bureau was just one of the many successful, diverse careers she pursued during her long life. This lecture by Mark Resnick will focus on her NPS campaign, as well as situate it within her broader story. Mark Resnick is an authority on the history of American graphic design, a field in which he curates, publishes, and lectures. He has also served as an art-museum director, as chief business and legal executive at major film studios, and on various arts-related boards. He is the founder of Resnick Arts and Culture Consulting, which advises cultural institutions and their leaders on a wide range of matters and counsels major collectors on the sale or donation of their collections. He is honored to be a longtime friend of RIT, starting with his service on an advisory committee instrumental in establishing the Vignelli Center, then co-curating a major exhibition for the Bevier Gallery on the history of the US poster, and then authoring two books for the RIT Press, the latest of which is on Waugh.
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Wallace Library
Room/Location: First Floor
Imagine RIT Volunteering
Volunteers are essential members of Imagine RIT, and we need hundreds of people just like you to ensure that the festival is a success. You can review our volunteer FAQ to obtain more information on training, T‑shirt pick up, and festival check-in. If you'd like to register, click here.
April 25
Breaking Bread Program
The Breaking Bread program is facilitated By Dr. Taj Smith, Executive Director for Community and Education, Division of Access, Engagement, and Success. The program consists of opportunities to practice dialogue and connect with people. If you are interested in any of the events being hosted, feel free to sign up here. Registration is encouraged, but drop-ins are allowed for the special edition options. There are 3-week commitments and also one-time events that can be looked at under the Programs section on this webpage.
Goodbye, Goodbuy!
Since the start of the program, we have saved over 100 tons of goods from landfills. During the spring semester move-out, we collect donated items, which are then offered at thrift store prices at our annual sale for incoming students in the following fall. This sustainable cycle reduces waste, ensuring usable items find new homes instead of ending up in landfills.
Join us in making a lasting impact.
April 30-May 10
Question: sustainability@rit.edu
Honors Council
Honors Council
Attend an Honors Council meeting to learn more about getting involved in the Honors Program! Council meetings are a great way to meet and talk to your college's delegate, hear updates on Honors events, and provide feedback and suggestions for what you want to see. Honors Council dates and locations for the fall semester will be announced soon.
Attending Council meetings counts for 1/2 hour of complementary learning.
Category: Participation in the Intellectual and Cultural Life at RIT
Approved Virtual and Summer Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer this summer by getting involved in your community - in person or virtually! There are many online organizations that run on volunteers. These include transcribing documents for the Smithsonian, captioning TEDTalks, and contributing to conservation efforts by tagging animals in photos.
A list of approved virtual opportunities can be found here.
A list of approved nonprofit organization volunteer opportunities can be found here.
If you find an opportunity not listed and would like it checked, send an email to honors@rit.edu to see if its eligible for comp learning.
Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities
Connect with Rochester! The CLCE has an ongoing list of local organizations looking for volunteers that can be found here. They have a variety of focuses to explore, including Food Justice, Housing, Community Development, Environment, Animal Welfare, Activism, Youth Development, Health and Wellness, and Parks and Recreation!
Check out our other opportunities below!
Testimonials
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“Throughout my experience with the American Cancer Society, I had the opportunity to learn about many different types of cancer, listen to the stories of many cancer survivors/fighters, educate others on cancer, and help bring awareness to the disease through a variety of activities. I had the opportunity to listen to many people's stories about how cancer affected them personally and relate to them and support them on an emotional level. I was able to help bring awareness to the disease by participating in many different fundraising events, and this opportunity helped me meet a new community of people who all shared the same interest. It taught me a lot about a relevant disease in our world currently and having the ability to come together with a group of people and participate in different events to raise awareness was very meaningful to me. I felt like this opportunity helped me feel welcomed in the RIT community, and I feel like I gained a lot from the social and intellectual aspects of my comp learning.”
-Mikayla Leibenguth CHST
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“It's really easy to get bogged down with the expectations you fail to meet for yourself. Then you start just focusing on all the things you can't do and you fail to realize all the things you can. This year's comp learning helped me to realize that there is nothing wrong with changing your goals and expectations if you need to because at the end of the day, any efforts are better than none.”
-Isaac Buswell COS
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“Complementary Learning helped me begin to find my place in the RIT and Rochester Area Community. As a first-year student, Complementary Learning helped me start exploring the Greater Rochester Area through the Into the ROC activities. I also learned more about the different organizations and opportunities on the RIT campus to help other students such as RIT Food Share. When I returned home on winter break, I was excited to get involved and connected with my community again through the FIRST Robotics Tournament”
-Rachael Tobey CET
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“Many of the hours I completed for complementary learning this year were focused on leadership for alpha Kappa Delta Phi and other organizations I am passionate about. This leadership position has taught me how to effectively voice my opinions and communicate effectively with other members of the organization, the International Leadership Board, and other organizations on campus. Additionally, it taught me how to organize weekly chapter/e-board meetings and lead workshops to fulfill our Risk Management requirement from International Leadership Board. This experience has given me the ability to separate my personal feelings in a professional environment, a skill necessary which was necessary for me to succeed in my internship/co-op that I took for summer 2022 and fall 2022.”
-Crystal Qu KGCOE
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"I've learned the importance of volunteers and those who donate their time, skills, and resources to the impoverished. Thanks to the help of volunteer lawyers, doctors, and even college students like me, we've helped keep these families afloat, whether it be through providing them with emergency food supplies, legal counsel they couldn't normally get, preventing shutoffs of their utilities, helping out with housing problems, and so much more. Even if it's just something little, the contributions of every volunteer matters."
-Albert Hynes GCCIS -
"I do not volunteer for the recognition. I volunteer because I care, I enjoy it and because I believe that it is a responsibility for all to partake in. A responsibility that entails giving back to others, giving back to those less fortunate, or to simply help others.”
-Zayneb Ghazle CHST