Serve-a-plooza an eye-opener
By Nate Swinton
More than 200 students, faculty and staff joined forces Saturday to participate in Serve-a-plooza.
The second annual community service event featured 15 service projects and was a joint organizational effort by all the chartered student organizations. The day kicked off with appearances by inspirational speakers and was followed by participants branching off to partake in various service projects throughout the Bay Area.
Programs ranged from working in homeless shelters to organizing activities for underprivileged children.
"[Serve-a-plooza] makes people aware of the needs of our surrounding community," senior Danielle Stephens, the event's founder, said.
Stephens brought the program to campus after hearing about a similar project at another school.
Sophomore Michelle Curtis, the Activities Programming Board representative for Serve-a-plooza, emphasized the event's relevancy to Santa Clara's mission statement.
"Serve-a-plooza is an incredible opportunity for the whole campus to come together and meet the mission of the university," she said. "It reminds us why we're all here. To be able to work with people in need - you can't put a value on it."
Student participants described their experiences as being both fun and eye-opening.
Junior Pete Riehl spent the day cleaning and playing with children at the San Jose Family Shelter. He said he enjoyed being with other Santa Clara students and helping the residents of the shelter.
"I think it's really important to see others ... and see how others live," he said. "It's good to see that everyone's not as lucky as us. If we're given more, we need to help them more."
Junior Erin Bucholz worked at the Montgomery Street Inn, a San Jose men's shelter, serving lunch. The six Santa Clara students who went to the shelter most appreciated meeting the people in need, she said.
"We were energetic and having a good time and more than willing to get to know the residents there," she said. "We wanted to go and enjoy those people's company and share in their solidarity."
Bucholz, president of the Panhellenic Council, said she plans to take members of the council back to the shelter another time to volunteer.
Bucholz's experience reflects Serve-a-plooza's growing emphasis on personal interaction with those in need. The event's organizing committee focused on having more service projects this year to increase one-on-one contact as much as possible, said Stephens.
"Last year people were observing and this year people were in it and got the hands-on experience."
Stephens also said that in addition to encouraging community service, Serve-a-plooza also promotes growth within the Santa Clara community.
The event helps "people to know each other outside of their organizations," she said. "People can interact with faculty and staff on a level other than academics."
Stephens said the cooperative approach to organizing the event helps foster this community spirit. "It doesn't belong to any one organization. It belongs to the CSO's and the Santa Clara institution itself."
And although the event did not grow in size this year (last year's Serve-a-plooza had roughly the same number of participants), the organizing committee anticipates a bright future for the young program.
Said Curtis, who will more than likely take over the reigns from Stephens in the future, "Serve-a-plooza will be even better next year. Every year we learn more."