Thursday, March 28, 2024

MSU students across the world participate in Global Day of Service

April 17, 2016
Assistant director of REHS Josh Gillespie speaks to volunteers on April 16, 2016 in classroom b115 in Wells Hall.
Assistant director of REHS Josh Gillespie speaks to volunteers on April 16, 2016 in classroom b115 in Wells Hall. —
Photo by Sundeep Dhanjal | and Sundeep Dhanjal The State News

The good deeds ranged from, but were not limited to, works in the Lansing area, aid in Flint, a canned food drive in Los Angeles as well as mentoring underprivileged students in Hong Kong.

A statement from the MSU Alumni Association anticipated more than 1,500 Spartans, students and alumni alike, would be participating worldwide.

Assistant director of Residence Education and Housing Services, or REHS, Josh Gillespie is in his fourth year of organizing the student kickoff event in Wells Hall and said his department, along with several others on campus, work tirelessly on social media to encourage students to attend.

Breakfast is provided for the students and they are greeted with a DJ and booming music upon their entrance to the large classroom.

“It’s a collaboration of efforts,” he said, referring to MSU departments compiling student volunteers.

This year, Gillespie anticipated the crowded classroom was filled with more than 700 students ready to tackle a variety of tasks in the Lansing area.

He said some went to work with the disenfranchised in housing projects, others worked in habitat maintenance in public parks and others went to youth organizations to work with kids.

“We’re working with everybody,” Gillespie said.

Gillespie also said he is proud of the diverse group of students that came out to devote a Saturday to good works in the community.

“The event is also growing every year,” he said.

He said MSU organizations hope to attract more than 1,000 students to the global day of service in upcoming years.

Accounting sophomore Cameron Stewart and microbiology freshman Kyleigh Buckley were two students who participated in the event.

Both received an email and thought the idea of a day where students give back to the community was a great idea.

“It’s fun to give back to the community and it’s a nice study break,” Buckley said.

The two undergraduate students were placed in a group going to an East Lansing environmental stewardship program and were tasked with helping clean up the community.

“It’s really cool Spartans are able to throw this together,” Stewart said.

ASMSU president Domonique Clemons was a participant of the day of service and expressed the vitality of MSU students participating in events like the day of service.

“It’s so important for Spartans to get out and give back to the community,” he said.

President Lou Anna K. Simon was in attendance at the early morning pump-up ceremony and reveled in the idea of student and alumni support to the community.

She said events like these are an “extraordinary show of student support” and “build on a long tradition” of Spartans becoming intimately involved in the places they call home.

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