Monday, February 25, 2013

Volunteering Opportunities: Extended Service

An outstanding characteristic of the Saint Mike's student body is the amount of service they do; nearly 70 percent of the student body will participate in MOVE in some way by graduation. MOVE stands for Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts, and it's the organization that runs just about all the volunteer and service opportunities that are found on campus.

Some of these opportunities are weekly programs such as Baked Love (make meals for local organizations and families with Campus Kitchen), Cause for Paws (working at a greyhound dog shelter) and in warmer weather, working at the school's organic garden.

Another opportunity that's offered is extended service, which entails doing a domestic or international service trip over either winter, spring or summer break. Students have to go on a domestic trip before they can go on an international trip, but although rare, it's possible to do both during your freshman year, like one of my friends did.

In a couple weeks, I get to go on my first extended service trip with a group of fellow students to Hope House in Long Island, New York. Each trip tends to be pretty different, and I've also heard from peers who've gone on this trip that you can't really know what it's all about until you get there. One of my best friends went on the trip our freshman year, and he loved every second of it (and was awarded the "how are you moved?" scholarship, which is a prize awarded to a worthy student going on a service trip, for which they have to complete a project on their experiences). Essentially, I'm not quite sure what to expect, but it sounds fantastic and I can't wait to go! We have a group meeting tonight of all of us going on the trip, and then we leave in two weeks. Once again, the semester's flying by...

Thanks for reading! 'Til next time.

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