In the town's service and in the service of the town

Many of these students began their service in the community before they even got to campus. Farrell Harding '10, for example, got involved in civic engagement at Princeton through the Community Action (CA) program, a pre-orientation program organized by the SVC. "I had a great time during CA and wanted to stay involved," Harding explained. After her experience with the CA program, Harding joined other projects during the school year. Harding now volunteers once a week at The Cherry Tree Club, a day-care center in Princeton for homeless children in the Mercer County area, in addition to serving as the social action point person on SVC's Executive Board.

Some SVC programs enable students to take a personal approach to their volunteer work, allowing them to tutor and mentor one specific student throughout their Princeton careers. Caitlin Paul '10, who also joined the SVC after participating in CA, now serves as a project coordinator for the One-on-One tutoring program. Paul and other students involved in the program serve as both tutors and mentors to economically disadvantaged girls in grades two through eight living in the Princeton area. "During the week we spend time helping the girls with their homework," Paul explained. "Then we have weekend events where we take the girls to ice cream, to the movies and stuff like that."

Owing to student interest, a number of the SVC projects involve tutoring and mentoring children. In fact, the SVC is currently planning an event called "Kids on Campus" that will bring children from youth outreach programs in Trenton and Princeton for which SVC members volunteer. Jenni Newbury '10, a member of the SVC Executive Board, is helping to plan the event. "Many of these kids are from shelters or underprivileged communities," she said. "At the event, we will be pairing up each kid with a student volunteer. The pairs will have the opportunity to travel around [the University] as well as participate in games and activities planned by the SVC." The event, scheduled for April 26 to coincide with Communiversity, will conclude with performances by various student groups, including the Nassoons, Tigressions and some dance companies.

Bringing the program participants to campus will give students a better idea of the ways one can get involved in community service at Princeton. As of now, a relative lack of student involvement in the community is encouraging organizations, including the USG, to work with the SVC to learn why more students are not involved with civic engagement. The USG is currently working on student surveys that will help it understand why some students do not do community service and other forms of civic engagement. "Right now about a third of students are involved in some form of service," said Andrew Seligsohn, the Pace Center coordinator for civic engagement learning, who is working with the USG and SVC on this project. "We want to know what leads students to get involved and what barriers there are," Seligsohn explained.

For most students, a lack of time is one of the barriers that Seligsohn mentioned. "I did a lot of community service in high school, but at Princeton, I just don't have time," Arielle McTootle '11 explained.

David Walters '11 agreed. "Obviously, I would like to be involved, but considering the academic demands of this school, I feel like I need to get a hold of my work load first," he said.

To students who find that barriers like this prevent them from volunteering, the SVC is a helpful resource for finding alternative routes out of FitzRandolph Gate. Paul explained, "The SVC website is a great resource to learn about the different kinds of projects around Princeton."

Newbury also discussed the role of the SVC, noting that "there are always people in the SVC office ready to help you find any project that fits your interests."

Other students noted the plethora of options that the SVC offers, ranging in both type of service and the amount of time demanded. "There are plenty of options," Harding said. "If you want to get involved, you definitely can."

The experience of volunteering certainly paid off for all of these students. Some were inspired to look beyond the gates more conscientiously. "Volunteering at Princeton has opened my eyes to the great need in Trenton and other local communities and has helped me realize the impact a motivated group of students can have," Newbury said.

Others built new friendships with both other undergraduates and the children they work with. Speaking of her work with the One-on-One program, Paul said, "It's a cool experience getting to know the girls in the program, especially since their lives are so drastically different from life at Princeton."

Perhaps the most common benefit gained from volunteering with the SVC, though, is getting to break free from Princeton once in a while. "It's great to get off campus and see real people and real problems," Harding explained. "It's easy to forget about those kinds of things when you're so isolated."