College Corps Alumna Leads Community Art Project with City of San José at the Guadalupe River Park

When Ivana Gottwald, '25 Digital Media Art, suggested to San José Mayor Matt Mahan in 2024 that the City of San José could use "more color," she couldn't have imagined that a year later, a few hundred San José State students and volunteers would be painting a community art project she designed along the Guadalupe River.

Gottwald, then a member of the College Corps , a yearlong service learning fellowship offered through SJSU's Center for Community Learning and Leadership (CCLL), had been invited to participate in a fireside discussion alongside the mayor and California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday, who oversees statewide service and volunteer programs.

"The mayor went around the table and asked us, 'What's one thing you would change about San José as a city?'" Gottwald says. "The first thing I mentioned was playgrounds - having more places for people to play, have a picnic, go on a hike, do yoga. I also said we need more color -murals, interactive installations or colorfully painted buildings. The mayor said, 'You're an art major; let's stay connected and make something happen.'"

And make something happen they did. An artist in her own right, Gottwald juggled internships, classes and community service while collaborating with CCLL and the city of San José to find the right time and location for an art project. The right opportunity presented itself on Saturday, September 20, California Coastal Cleanup Day , when Fryday returned to San José for a city beautification project at the Guadalupe River Park about a mile from campus.

That same day, Fryday captured College Corps members participating in the art project on an Instagram reel .

"Look at all these incredible artists out here who are serving, taking their Saturday," he said. "This used to be an encampment. There were hundreds of people here living under the freeway…[and now] we have College Corps members, Service Corps members who are beautifying it. and this whole entire idea came from one of our College Corps members who said to the mayor and I a year ago, 'We need more color in our city. We need more beauty, we need more art.' …This is what service looks like."

"By helping beautify the Guadalupe River Trail, students not only gave back to the San José community, but also built leadership skills and a stronger sense of ownership in the place they live and study. It's about creating lasting change while growing as engaged citizens," says Emily Lansing, council assistant for Mayor Mahan. "City-university partnerships, like the one between San José and SJSU, show how we can achieve more together-students gain real-world experience and leadership opportunities, while the city benefits from their energy, creativity, and service to the community! Partnerships like this are more than one-time projects-they're an investment in the future of both our students and our city. When SJSU and San José work side by side, we not only improve our community spaces but also inspire the next generation of leaders to stay engaged and keep building a stronger, more connected city!"

Gottwald's design incorporates animals and wildlife that live along the river and is inspired by the work of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC). Together with BeautifySJ, a program through the city of San José's Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department, Gottwald supervised the sketching and painting on the underside of a freeway overpass. She says that the piece would not have been completed so quickly without the support of 80 College Corps members from San José State, along with other city and community volunteers. Spartans helped bring the artwork to life while also picking up trash, mulching and pruning organic material along the river and cleaning the park and bike trail.

SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson attended the beautification event alongside the mayor, Fryday, San José City Councilmember Michael Mulcahy and Steve Holmes, founder of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition.

"Our students are doing extraordinary work," wrote Teniente-Matson on LinkedIn alongside photos of the new art project. "Since 2022, SJSU College Corps Fellows have completed more than 80,000 hours of service, primarily with local after-school programs, helping more than 800 children learn coding and computer science. They are introducing young learners to AI concepts, careers, and creativity. This project transformed an area once marked by encampments into a space of restoration, color, and community pride. It is a full-circle moment that reflects the best of San José State: hands-on learning, civic engagement and the power of partnerships."

The project is more than an accomplishment for Gottwald - it's a culmination of her desire to combine public service and community art. A member of the inaugural Civic Action Fellowship at SJSU - a funded service learning opportunity that later evolved into the College Corps program - she completed a minimum of 450 hours of community service a year for her first three years as a college student. During her senior year, other work and internship commitments prevented her from committing to the College Corps, so she was thrilled when the opportunity to lead this city-university art project arose.

"Being able to fly up to San José to coordinate this project and work with fellows who I used to lead in the College Corps was really special," she says. "Once you graduate, it's easy to get focused on what's next, so being able to come back showed me that yes, I am an alumna and I can still make an impact on my community. It was a full circle moment."

Andrea Tully, assistant director of the Center for Community Learning and Leadership, sees the project as just one example of the many ways SJSU students can make an impact on their communities.

"Students can impact their communities in countless ways, by first knowing their values, then choosing to act on them by taking a community engaged class or volunteering with a local community organization, and persisting when change takes time," says Tully. "It took a year and a half to make this project happen and its completion exemplifies that with intentional collaboration and commitment, progress can happen."

Though the Guadalupe River art project is now complete, the CCLL's efforts to engage Spartans in service learning are ongoing. Gottwald's experience as a College Corps member and student leader informs her message for fellow Spartans.

"When you're a student, you're also a member of society," she says. "As someone who lived on campus for four years, it would be easy for me to say, 'I'm one of 10,000 students who live here; I'm not impactful.' But you can do more than what your major has told you on your roadmap that you can do. You can start with local organizations. You can talk to your professors or email the city. Your degree is important, but it's up to you to apply it. You're more than a student; you're that little spark that society is waiting to see graduate."

Read more about service learning at SJSU.