Making a difference during a 'selfish period'

Six student leaders hurried around the Murray-Dodge common room yesterday afternoon, eating pizza while preparing for their open house.

They laid out posters advertising their 50 yearly projects as students in search of volunteer opportunities trickled in. The leaders greeted the newcomers with a simple exchange: e-mail addresses for Valentine's Day candy.

The Student Volunteers Council (SVC), established in 1967, is the largest student-run organization on campus. Undergraduates on the council's board serves to coordinate service and leadership.

"The board achieves things one person could not do," Joyce Lee '09, the executive board director of health, special needs and voices, said.

"It is nice to have people ... enthusiastic about service who put a premium on service," she added.

Damien Zhang '09 is one of two new board members, elected to fill a position vacated by a graduating senior. He became more involved because he was having so much fun with the organization. "[The board members] all work well together," he said. "We are all on the same page."

The SVC members are "definitely people who really take service to their hearts and live it," Sita Bushan '08, the board facilitator, said. "I sort of help out whenever they need something."

Jessica Gheiler '08, director of elderly and youth outreach, sees the SVC as an opportunity for undergraduates to think about concerns beyond their daily world of classes, papers and parties.

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"I think the general attitude is that college is a selfish period," she said. "I think there is a lack of regard for the community that surrounds us."

"There is something to be said about students who go out [to volunteer] every week for two hours," she added.

Of course, people who do not participate in service activities may contribute in other ways. Making money and donating it might seem like the most efficient way to serve, Gheiler said. But she cautioned that service is not all about monetary donations.

"There is value to relationships and experiences," she said. "It conditions students and develops [a] spirit of service."

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In addition to SVC's student participants, staff advisers provide outside perspective and institutional memory.

Dave Brown, the group's staff director, is a longtime service worker in the local community and has been an asset to the SVC, Bushan said. It can be difficult for the SVC to maintain strong connections with the community surrounding the University when there is a constant turnover of positions within the SVC.

"He's from the area and has worked in the nonprofit sector in Trenton for a long time," Bushan added. "He is a crucial link to a lot of service organizations."

Many students begin their involvement with the SVC in the fall of freshman year and continue through senior year, she said. "The SVC manages to attract a group of students that are very dedicated."

But the SVC board wants to expand beyond its current members. To incorporate service into the lives of busy students more easily, Zhang advocates organizing more break trips. The SVC sponsors a service-oriented trip during Fall Break, Intersession and spring break. Having more of these trips when students are free may increase involvement, he said.

Gheiler said she hopes that the SVC will remain a "home for students who make service a priority in their life." She also hopes to continue to give students responsibilities and to "penetrate the community."