A new student group on-campus has been “on the rise” lately, promoting social involvement and community service.
On The Rise was formed through a casual conversation between social relations and public policy junior K’Lynn Victoria Thomas and Joshua Gillespie, assistant director at Residence Education and Housing Services, or REHS.
Gillespie said REHS wanted to create a group that would incorporate everything that other groups do and more, including community service, social events and leadership training.
“We’re both social and community service based,” Thomas said.
“We focus on community service a lot and half the time (both community service and social events) coincide with one another because we put together social events to go with community service.”
Thomas said the group, which includes six members total, has so far organized four events this semester, including a comedy show and a soul food dinner event in the Akers Hall cafeteria.
The organization also has planned bigger events such as Taking It To The Streets, a community service event co-organized with REHS, and a celebrity basketball event, where actor Morris Chestnut, television personality Claudia Jordan and other notable people played basketball against a university fraternity.
Advertising and public relations junior Egypt Eaddy, a member of the group, said all of the revenue from the hoopfest event was donated straight to families in need to help them have a more pleasant holiday season.
“I’m really glad I joined the group,” said Eaddy. “I definitely grew in ways I didn’t expect.”
Gillespie said the name On The Rise came from the idea of having a group of people who would be constantly evolving and progressing.
On The Rise allows its members to challenge themselves in different ways, Gillespie said.
The organization has set a minimum goal of 20 hours of community service per semester per student.
Members also need to attend three different anthropological excursions, where they get to experience a culturally different environment so they can learn to accept others, Gillespie said. said
Thomas said the group is working on finalizing events for next semester, which will most likely include a gospel concert.
She added that the group also would be looking to include new members in the group.
Students interested in joining can fill out an application explaining how they would contribute.
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