Students encouraged to honor Sept. 11 victims through service
To honor the victims of Sept. 11, students can take part in service through United in the Spirit of America Day on Thursday, Sept. 11 and the Marathon Tour on Friday, Sept. 12.
Utah State University students demonstrated their willingness to serve in the Battle of the Brothers blood drive, beating the University of Utah with 536 to 353 pints of blood. More USU students wanted to donate than were able to; Red Cross ran out of supplies every day and turned away more than 100 volunteers on the last day, said Nelle Howard, associate director for service and leadership.
The Battle of the Brothers manifests student’s desires to assist the community and they will have opportunities again on Sept. 11 and 12, when United Campus Volunteers and the Val R. Christensen Service Center are hosting United in the Spirit of America Day.
“The Service Center will have tables across campus where students can make service pledges in remembrance of the day and learn more about service opportunities,” said Heather Bankhead, director of United Campus Volunteers.
Students who pledge hours can perform the service anytime. Bankhead said the goal is 3031 hours of service since there were 3031 victims on Sept. 11.
As a kick-off project for the day, United Campus Volunteers is hosting quilt tying at the International Student Lounge in the Taggart Student Center Thursday, Sept. 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Clubs will promote campus unity by organizing service projects that night, not only for their clubs members but also for all students interested in participating.
USU changed its focus for Sept. 11 this year. Howard said last year at the memorial service students did not want to relive the sad parts and so this year the day is being observed in a positive way.
“Rather than focusing on the sorrow of the day, we would love to start a tradition of commemorating Sept. 11 with service to remember the sacrifices from that day,” said Bankhead.
The Fun Bus Tour is another activity this week to teach students more about service and becoming civically engaged. On Sept. 12, Students Serving Utah Networks (SSUN), the student representation branch of Utah Campus Compact (UCC), will visit every campus, including USU’s. The Fun Bus Tour starts its rallies Friday at USU, finishing 11 p.m. at Southern Utah, and visiting Dixie State College Saturday morning.
The Fun Bus Marathon Tour is in conjunction with United Way’s “Day of Caring,” which is a day dedicated to completing much-needed volunteer projects for local agencies.
SUNN will meet with USU students in the Sunburst Lounge on the third floor of the TSC at 7 a.m. USU will report on United in the Spirit of America Day; Cameron Woolf, president of SSUN and ASUSU’s service vice president, will speak on civic involvement and giving back to the community.
UCC consists of all higher education institutions in the state. Encouraging service and civic involvement are the purposes of UCC. Woolf said SSUN and UCC are important because through these organizations all Utah colleges have the same vision and goals. It is also the only association that all Utah colleges participate in, including their presidents.
SSUN’s statewide campaign “Get a Life” is based on Winston Churchill’s quote, “You get a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.”
“The purpose of the Get a Life campaign is not only to promote service learning, but is also to promote civic engagement like voting, lobbying, and volunteering,” said Linda Dunn, United Campus Compact executive director. “It’s time that every university student starts giving back to his or her community.”
“We hope to take advantage of UCC and SSUN’s statewide collaboration to encourage Utah’s over 100,000 college students to be civically engaged. We want them to realize that opportunities to make a difference aren’t limited to the classroom, but rather expand into their whole community” Woolf said.
He said there is a difference in the type of education obtained by just going to class and reading a book compared to the type of education only obtainable through actively seeking out opportunities to be involved in the community.
United in the Spirit of America Day and Marathon Fun Bus Tour are good ways to encourage service and civic involvement across said Howard. Students interested in getting involved with United in the Spirit of America Day or a specific service organization can visit the Val R. Christensen Center on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center.
– lindseykay@cc.usu.edu