Comprehensive community development programs in a university provide the opportunity to bring awareness to diversity, inclusion, and equity in students' research projects. Unfortunately, the Indonesian higher education system is not yet fully inclusive of all of these issues. Students competed in a Student Creativity Program (PKM) project with faculty mentorship. Mentoring activities took place online through Microsoft Teams. At the end of the PKM and mentoring activities, students wrote personal reflections related to the project and mentoring process. We found that students' reflections centered on issues of diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment. The inclusivity component influenced students to develop a proposal related to clean water access to address a problem faced by people in a low-cost municipal area maintained by the local government. The mentorship ultimately produced meaningful learning through science-based research, while distance learning platforms contributed to student empowerment.