Micah FAQ

Yes. Each year the Micah program accepts students into our first-year community who are also in SLU's Honors program.

Micah classes can count toward students' graduation requirements. The Micah program does not add more academic requirements.

Yes. The Micah community is interfaith and includes students from a variety of religious backgrounds, denominations, and non-faith backgrounds.

We work at service sites in urban communities near SLU's campus. This service focuses on building relationships with the people working at the organizations, those being served and other Micah students.

Most service-related scholarship requirements on campus can be fulfilled through the Micah program.

You will receive a schedule of service opportunities and choose your top three preferences based on your interest and your availability. Micah program staff will try their best to give you your top choice.

The Micah program provides vans for weekly service and other Micah events. Students in the program who are verified by the University drive the vans. There are no additional costs to Micah students for this transportation. As long as you complete the driver's verification process and follow all guidelines,  SLU's insurance will cover you.

Our highest priority is to ensure that everyone stays safe. Although no American city is without potential dangers, the neighborhoods where we serve are stable and our sites are well-run. We do, however, focus on having an older and experienced student in each service group, ask first-year students to never go to service sites alone, and require them to always take the vans directly to service sites and back.

In addition to weekly service, many first-year students volunteer for special monthly events with older Micah students, faculty and staff. These events involve engaging with children at special events, renovating houses, beautifying city neighborhoods, or fixing up facilities at underfunded schools.

First-year Micah students and their Micah sophomore mentors live on the fifth through eighth floors of Marguerite Hall in the Micah Learning Community.

Once you have been accepted into the Micah program, our program coordinator will inform the Department of Housing and Residence Life to move your housing assignment to one of the floors in the Micah Learning Community.  You should also contact the Department of Housing and Residence Life by email and ask to be switched.

In the mid-1990s, Michael Garanzini, S.J., SLU’s academic vice president at the time, proposed strengthening students' connections between residence halls, classrooms, the University and the surrounding urban neighborhoods. The program celebrated its 20th anniversary during the 2017-18 school year.

In 1997, the Micah program accepted its first class of students under the direction of its first director, Donald Stump, Ph.D. Stump served as director for over 20 years. In 2018, Olga Arbeláez, Ph.D., became the program director. In 2021, Emily Komos, the first staff director, was named.