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:
Volunteerism and Service - Volunteering your time and talents to a nonprofit or community agency (RIT is a non-profit) without being compensated in any way.
Leadership - Engaging in leadership through named leadership positions on campus groups or organizations, taking part in leadership development programs like the CLCE's momentum program, serving as a delegate on Honors Council, as an Orientation Leader, Honors Orientation Mentor, or and Resident Assistant.
Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University - Attending university or college-wide lectures and participating in university or community facilitated group discussions.
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
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; however, the events listed here are not 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.
Volunteering with Rochester Hope Food Pantry
This event will take place on Saturday, November 14th, 11:30-3:30 pm. There are several ways that volunteers can assist: Shopping with patrons, stocking shelves, assisting patrons with transporting bags to their cars or next stop in transportation and serving breakfast and lunch in the hall where patrons wait. Transportation for this event will be provided.
Bus pickup: 11:45 am at Rochester Institute of Technology (North Bus Shelter located at the top of parking lot F, closest to the Chester Carlson Center for Imaging Science).
Bus drop-off: 3:45 pm at Rochester Institute of Technology (North Bus Shelter located at the top of parking lot F, closest to the Chester Carlson Center for Imaging Science).
Sign up here!
Nov 14
11:30AM - 3:30PM
Pick up at North Bus Shelter, Parking Lot F
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
Into the ROC: Visit Seneca Park Zoo for the Recycling Rally
Join us as we visit the Seneca Park Zoo during their Recycling Rally! You’ll get the opportunity to learn about hands-on ways to reduce waste, recycle, and live more sustainably. You can learn new tips from and connect with community organizations in our area who are leading the way in waste reduction, having activities ranging from upcycling to small everyday actions with big impacts. You’ll also get the opportunity to explore the zoo and see all of the wonderful animals they work with! If you need American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation or captioning, please connect directly with RIT Access Services to make your request as soon as possible. If you need any other accommodations, please make sure to connect with E (edtpro@rit.edu) as soon as possible. A snack voucher will be provided for each attendee that can be used at various locations throughout the zoo. Register for this event on CampusGroups here.
Nov 14
11:30AM - 4:00PM
Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St Paul St, Rochester, NY 14621
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
Veterans Outreach Center Miracle Minute Fundraiser with RIT United Way Campaign
The RIT United Way Campaign is seeking 20-30 volunteers for the Miracle Minute Fundraiser at the RIT Men's Hockey game to benefit the Veterans Outreach Center. The volunteer time commitment is about 2 hours. Volunteers should arrive to the Gene Polisseni Center by 4:30 p.m. and meet the United Way team in the Gene Polisseni Center Lobby. Volunteers will be assigned their section, issued their orange bucket, and will need to be in place by the beginning of the game at 5:05 p.m. During an early timeout, the announcer will let the crowds know about the fundraiser and volunteers will begin circulating through their section to collect donations! When the donation is period has ended, volunteers will meet back in the lobby to turn in their buckets and donations. Register for this event on CampusGroups here.
Nov 14
4:30PM - 6:30PM
Gene Polisseni Center
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
Giving Tuesday's Hunger Project
Join in on RIT's annual Giving Tuesday event on Tuesday, Nov. 17 2026. Three hundred RIT volunteers will team up with U.S. Hunger to package and prepare 30,000 nutritious meals for RIT FoodShare and Rochester's FoodLink.
With music booming, lentils flying, and a sea of orange hairnets, volunteers will work together to create a truly dynamic experience...and the by-product? Healthy meals are packaged for hungry community members along the way. To sign up for a shift, fill out this form.
Nov 17
11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Gordon Field House and Activities Center
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
Vignelli Center Lecture: What Does it Really Take to Build a Career in Design?
What does it really take to build a career in design? Design leaders from across different disciplines share the stories behind their careers – the mentors who guided them, the challenges they faced, the risks they took and the moments of luck that changed their direction. Learn about their personal experiences of recognizing opportunities, overcoming setbacks and how a passion for design can turn into a life in design.
Casey Baxter, Vice President & General Manager - HBF & HBF Textiles
Omar Nobil, Senior Vice President, Creative Director of Product Design, Brand Creative, Visual Merchandising - Design Within Reach / MillerKnoll
James Cull, Design Director and Principal of Rottet Studio New York
Read more about each speaker here.
Nov 17
5:30PM - 6:30PM
MAGIC Spell Studios
Room/Location: Wegmans Theater
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
Three Minute Thesis
Attend the 3MT(Three Minute Thesis Competition) and watch RIT Doctoral Students compete by explaining their research in 3 minutes! You can also be a part of the competition by voting for the People's Choice. An essential aspect of the competition is the People’s Choice prize. After all presentations, the audience is asked to vote for the person they believe gave the most convincing 3MT presentation.
Nov 19
3:00PM - 5:00PM
Performing Arts Center
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University
Volunteer for Maker Faire Rochester
Featuring both established and emerging local “makers,” Maker Faire Rochester is a family-friendly celebration featuring rockets and robots, digital fabrication, DIY science and technology, urban farming and sustainability, alternative energy, bicycles, unique hand-made crafts, music and local food, and educational workshops and installations. In order for this event to run smoothly, Maker Faire Rochester needs volunteers! To learn more about when you can volunteer and what you can volunteer for, click on this link. To volunteer for the Student STEAM Fest, click here. To volunteer for the Maker Faire, click here.
Nov 19-21
Gordon Field House
Complementary Learning Category: Service/Volunteerism
CWC x SLC Make a Sandwich for RAW
The CWC and SLC are teaming up for a meaningful community service event to make and donate PB&J sandwiches to Recovery All Ways, a local nonprofit organization in Rochester dedicated to supporting individuals in recovery. This is a great opportunity to come together, give back to our community, and make a positive impact through a simple but meaningful act of service. All supplies and materials needed to make the sandwiches will be provided by the committees, so there’s no need to bring anything! Just show up ready to roll up your sleeves, make some sandwiches, and help support a great cause. We look forward to seeing you there and making a difference together! Register for this event on CampusGroups here.
Nov 21
11:00AM - 1:00PM
CPC-2610 Bamboo Room
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteerism and Service
CHAI Seminar: Research Talk by Dr. Tirthankar Ghosal, ORNL Staff Scientist
Has AI Taken the Epistemic Turn? From Hypothesis Generation to Autonomous Laboratories in the Genesis Era. Scientific discovery is limited less by data than by our capacity to form, ground, and trust new ideas as literature grows and specialization deepens. This talk traces a single arc: hypothesis generation is not just a text generation task but the opening move of an auditable discovery loop. What ultimately matters is not the hypothesis a system emits but the scientific state it carries and revises as evidence arrives. We began by asking whether large language models can genuinely unlock novel research ideas, then built toward an answer, reframing generation as reasoning-supervised, showing that compact structured knowledge carries much of the usable signal, and opening the black box to make a model's internal reasoning inspectable rather than asserted. But a harder question sits beneath all of it: has AI actually taken the epistemic turn, learning to track what it knows and revise it as evidence arrives, or has it only learned to sound as if it has? Learn about the speaker here.
Nov 23
12:00PM - 1:00PM
Student Innovation Hall
Room/Location: Simone Center 1600 Atrium
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University
momentum I, II & III
momentum is a portfolio of leadership development programs designed to introduce students to and cultivate the core competencies needed to step into key leadership roles on campus and in the Rochester community. Momentum I is RIT’s centralized leadership launchpad to introduce students to meaningful competency development and to increase their sense of belonging through connections to key leadership opportunities, including Orientation Leaders, Resident Advisors, RIT 365 co-facilitators, and student club and organization e-board roles. After completion of momentum I, students can go on to momentum II & III. Learn more about the program here and register here.
Varying dates and times
CPC-2610/2650 Bamboo Rooms
Complementary Learning Category: Leadership Activity
International Conversation Partner Program
The International Conversation Partner Program is a campus-wide program in which students, both domestic and international, meet in groups and immerse themselves in each other's cultures. The implementation of groups ensures that there is more flexibility for conversation and less pressure on a single partner to always attend. The program is no longer a Mandatory English only hour and participants are welcome to speak in whatever language they would prefer. Apply for the program now using this link!
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the intellectual and cultural life of the university
SMASH THE CRASH
Did you know that more than 1 billion birds die per year from fatal window collisions in the United States? That’s nearly 2,000 birds/minute, making buildings one of the top human-caused threats to avian wildlife. Join Smash the Crash to help put an end to this preventable environmental problem. They are an RIT-based university-and-community initiative devoted to studying and preventing bird-window collisions.
If you are interested in getting experience with scientific research and working on a team committed to campus sustainability, please email them at SmashtheCrashROC@gmail.com. They're currently looking for volunteers who can dedicate 30-60 minutes every week to monitoring the campus for collisions. No past experience is needed; training will be provided for new volunteers. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to join. Need more info? Click here. Feel free to email Dr. Fadok (rxfgla@rit.edu) with any questions you may have. This is also a vertically integrated project.
Various Dates and Times
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteering & Service
No Voice Zone
NVZ aims to provide a safe and judgement-free space for RIT undergraduate and graduate students to learn American Sign Language (ASL) from their deaf and hard of hearing peers. We also aim to provide a surface-level introduction to Deaf Culture throughout history and current events. It takes place every Wednesday from 9-10PM.
Wednesdays
9:00PM-10:00PM
10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4, 11/11, 11/18
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University
FoodShare: Volunteer Day
Help us with inventorying fresh produce from Flower City Pickers and Lori’s Natural Foods Market! Tasks include: cleaning old produce out of the fridges, wiping fridges down, weighing in new produce, composting spoiled produce, and recycling packaging. Register on their CampusGroups.
Nov 7, Nov 11, Nov 14, Nov 21
Dec 2, Dec 5, Dec 9, Dec 12
Complementay Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism
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. This program offers a group of participants a practice opportunity to learn how to dialogue rather than debate. Debate is often focused on winning. Dialogue focuses on how we can effectively communicate our ideas, make connections and demonstrate empathy. Registration for events is encouraged, but drop-ins are allowed for the special edition options. There are 5-week commitments and also one-time events that can be looked at under the Programs section on this webpage. Register for these events here.
Circle 1: Fat, thin, tall, and short: Is size bias stereotypes, or discrimination a thing at RIT?
October 5th, 19th and 26th
3:00pm - 4:00pm
CPC 2050
Special Edition Circles
Is resisting AI worth it? September 29th 11:30am - 1:00pm
Dominance, transitional, or liberated: What kind of world do you want to live in? October 27, 11:30am - 1:00pm
Class act: How do you experience socioeconomic status at home and at work? November 10, 11:30am - 1:00pm
SAU 1500
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the Intellectual and Cultural Life of the University
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.
Alternating Mondays from 8/31 at 4:00pm - 5:00PM
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the Intellectual and Cultural Life of the University
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