DMN: Nice Story on SMU Students' Volunteerism

[MrMustang1965]

By JEREMY ROEBUCK / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

While many of their peers were recovering from a Friday night out, a group of Southern Methodist University students spent Saturday volunteering.

SMU junior Bryan Shnider picked up trash around White Rock Lake. Senior Rose Ibrahim taught astronomy to young girls interested in science, and junior Julie Kennedy helped build a home for a South Dallas family.

Almost 500 students put their muscle into improving the area around their campus as part of SMU's annual Community Service Day, which kicks off the school's homecoming week.

Volunteers from student clubs, fraternities and sororities donated almost 1,500 hours to 30 service projects, ranging from running an animal adoption drive to hosting a Halloween carnival.

"People at SMU tend to be into their own lives," Mr. Shnider said. "This is the one day of the semester that we look outward."

For years, students have jokingly called the campus "The Bubble," referring to the shelter it provides from the outside world.

"We don't have to leave here for anything. Everything we could ever want is within a five-mile radius," said Kaity Robertson, event coordinator and a sophomore political science major. "This was a conscious effort to bring the outside community in and get ourselves out into the community."

The projects were designed to allow students to see they can make differences and meet people who would benefit from their work, said Jennifer Wells of SMU's Leadership and Community Involvement Office.

"We hope that when they see the effect they've had, they'll want to come back and volunteer their time again," she said.

Thirty students worked with Doug Freeman of Senior Net, an organization that helps elderly people who live on their own. They spent the day touching up the exterior of homes that had been tagged for code violations.

"Our volunteers are typically older adults," Mr. Freeman said. "The students brought a youthful dynamic to the work. A few of them have already contacted me about working with us in the future."

Ms. Kennedy, who volunteered with several roommates, enjoyed getting out of her daily routine by helping build a home with Habitat for Humanity.

"In school, they work our minds so hard," the chemistry and Spanish major said. "It was a nice change of pace to do some manual labor."

But for Ms. Robertson, the fact that so many students showed up at all spoke volumes.

"We got 500 college students to give up their weekend to work for others across the city," she said. "That has to be a testament to how much we care about what's going on around us."