SVC organizes 'Kids on Campus'

Roughly 100 kids in bright yellow T-shirts and face paint joined more than 100 undergraduates in frolicking in the grassy space between Murray-Dodge and Whig halls and participating in potato sack races, egg drop races and water balloon fights on Saturday afternoon.

The event, “Kids on Campus,” sponsored by the Student Volunteers Council (SVC), invited children ages 3 to 14 from Trenton and Princeton to spend the afternoon taking part in specially planned games and events. The children were participants in various SVC programs, including Trenton Tots, the Washington Tutoring Project, the Princeton Young Achievers and the GetSET after-school tutoring program.

The carnival event also included an ice cream truck and a pizza lunch, as well as guest performances by Raks Odalisque, the Nassoons, the Tigressions, Ballet Folklorico and the Black Arts Company.

“The day was like an amped up version of a field trip,” event organizer Marcus Perkins ’09 said. “The kids were really excited about it.”

Nell Diamond ’11, the event’s volunteer coordinator, said she was pleased with the high volunteer turnout, mainly comprising SVC members and former Community Action (CA) participants.“

We tried to match up kids with Princeton students they have worked with in the weekly projects,” she said.

Princeton volunteers also brought the kids into the Communiversity festivities — sponsored by the University and the Arts Council of Princeton — that took place along Witherspoon and Nassau streets.

The idea to bring children from SVC programs to campus was proposed by SVC board members and CA leaders Perkins and Jenni Newbury ’10 during a brainstorming meeting in January. Perkins and Newbury wanted to allow the children to see where the volunteers are from and raise awareness on campus of the SVC’s weekly programs and recruit future volunteers.

In March, Newbury proposed the idea to 13 SVC community partners; nine groups ultimately participated.

The SVC also hosted training sessions for volunteers new to the SVC in preparation for the event. “The volunteers really stepped up and were really incredible,” Newbury said.

The children were given T-shirts and tote bags to collect goodies from Communiversity and the carnival. The SVC contracted buses and vans to transport many of the kids from Trenton to campus. “It was great to give [kids who normally wouldn’t be able to come] the opportunity to come to the event,” Diamond said.

Both Newbury and Perkins hope “Kids on Campus” becomes an annual event. “It was really fun,” Perkins said. “It would be really cool to do again next year.”