Need some service hours? Try participating in the campus’ Service Saturday!

We kicked off this semester’s Service Saturday volunteer events by honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with four different options to gaining volunteer hours.

Students got to choose from two on-campus options and two off-campus options. The on-campus options were a campus clean up or writing letters and donating to the Pearlman Cancer Center. The off-campus options were painting with Habitat for Humanity or helping the Salvation Army with organizing, shredding, labeling and other tasks.

The off-campus options had a limit to the number of volunteers that could help, which filled quickly.

While volunteers waited for the day’s activities to begin, many got a chance to talk to friends and make new friends by discussing classes and majors. Students then broke off into groups with trash bags and gloves to pick up trash around campus, spending time with their friends along the way.

Friends, Brieanna Phillips, a criminal justice major, and Victoria Rivera, a health services major, both said they came for the service hours.

“I got an email from volunteerservices@valdosta.edu telling me about this event,” Rivera said.

“At the beginning of this semester, I was informed about a new graduation requirement for elementary education majors that requires 40 service hours, 30 of those being student and child oriented,” Amy Glynn, an education major, said.

She decided to begin her service hours with this weekend opportunity. Make sure you’re covered for graduation; there could be new requirements for your major as well!

All the participants involved in the campus clean up event filled up bags full of trash that was scattered on campus grounds. There was everything from drink bottles, plastic bags, Styrofoam, and even a basketball, completely dry- rotted.

Please be more mindful of where you are dropping your trash! Trashcans are littered all around campus, and it’s our responsibilities to keep our campus clean. Do your part and make sure your trash gets into the proper receptacle!

“Service Saturdays will continue to be held once a month, so keep a look out for these and other volunteer opportunities by contacting volunteerservices@valdosta.edu and the university’s social media pages like @vstatecareer on,” Amiya Miles, VSU Volunteer Coordinator said.

Written by Angel Davis. Photo curtesy of VSU.