Grand Valley Magazine - (Page 20)
At the Kent
School Services
Network, Sergio
Cira Reyes is the
community school
coordinator and
has worked with
Pals Student
Mentors over
the years to match members with K-12
students. His goal is to increase student
achievement and part of that, he said, is
getting the community involved.
"We work with our students when
they're in school, but our time with
them is limited. Pals mentors reach
them when they're outside of school
and you can definitely see the impact
one-on-one attention has on the
students," Reyes said.
Grand Valley has a rich history of
community service and service learning.
Volunteer GVSU, founded in the early
1990s, served as the core group of about
25 student organizations that focused on
service and advocacy. As the university
grew, so did the number of organizations
in Volunteer GVSU.
In 2006, the Community Service
Learning Center, located in the Office
of Student Life in the Kirkhof Center,
was established as a space to centralize
and track all student-related community
service and service learning initiatives.
Then in 2012, the Office for Community
Engagement, located in the College
of Community and Public Service, was
established to bring alignment and
direction to Grand Valley's community
engagement.
"Our role in CSLC is to help students
understand that community service is not
only part of the university's mission, but
that it's important to their personal and
Members of the
Student Environmental
Coalition spend many
Saturday mornings
volunteering at
Blandford Nature
Center in Walker.
photo by Amanda Pitts
20
Spring '14
professional development," Mutch said.
"Engaging in a community is valuable for
preparing for a career or exploring career
opportunities."
Part of that includes matching students
with a nonprofit. "I joke that my work can
sometimes be similar to Match.com," he
said. "Students come to CSLC, and based
on their interests and passions, we match
them with an organization."
Over the past year, Mutch has worked
to develop an official reporting system
of all community service and service
learning activities from students, faculty
and staff members, and alumni. The
Service Tracker, online at www.gvsu.edu/
service, allows a user to add a community
service activity, amount of hours, dates,
and an opportunity to reflect on the
experience. "Students can form a nice
portfolio piece that showcases all the
ways they were engaged in helping the
community during their time at
Grand Valley," he said.
Valerie Jones, assistant director
of Student Life, leads Grand Valley's
leadership and service initiatives. She
said as more students and others from
the campus community start to add
their community service activities to
the Service Tracker, the university will
perform more in-depth analyses of
community service. "We can start looking
at how engagement in community
activities are impacting student success
at Grand Valley," she said. "We hope
to see answers to questions like 'Are
students persisting along their identified
areas of study?' 'Are they graduating in
an ideal timeline?' and 'How are these
experiences related to their GPAs?'"
Mutch said some faculty members
incorporate service learning in their
classes because it's attractive to students
and they find it satisfying. So much so,
that many students carry it on
into adulthood.
"So many students end up
volunteering because they think it'll
look good on their resume, but many
find that it really awakens something
in them; they discover a passion they
didn't know they had and all of a
sudden, it becomes a priority in their
life," said Mutch.
Bill Kinter, president of the Student
Environmental Coalition, is passionate
about sustainabilty. He has organized
campuswide recycling and composting
efforts and arranges regular visits to
the 143-acre Blandford Nature Center in
Walker, where SEC members help clear
trails and keep the grounds clean.
"It doesn't feel like work when you
are having fun doing it," said Kinter, a
marketing and philosophy major from
Grand Blanc. "It's satisfying to be out
there contributing to something you
believe in and support."
Jessie Schulte, land stewardship
volunteer coordinator for Blandford
Nature Center, said the center could
not function without volunteers. "We're
completely sustained by volunteers and
donations, and a large percentage of
our volunteers come from Grand Valley,"
she said. "It's been wonderful to work
with them."
For Mac Vane and thousands of
other Grand Valley students, giving
back is important.
The result: more than 2,600
community groups in 2012-2013 were
affected by the time and talents of
Grand Valley students.
Mutch said: "Students are showing
that they're Lakers for a Lifetime by
giving back. Community service is a
priority at Grand Valley. We don't just
exist in the community, we're part of it.
We have a responsibility to give back."
GVM
ONLINE
Visit www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine
to see student volunteers in action.
2,684 community
groups: The number of
organizations students
served, according to
Service Tracker.
http://www.gvsu.edu/service
http://www.gvsu.edu/service
http://www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Grand Valley Magazine
Table of Contents
Campus News
Athletics
Donor Impact
Art of the Possible
One Book Carries Discussions Beyond Classroom
One Million Hours
Power Trio Turns Ideas Into Companies
Research
Q&A Renee Freeman
Off the Path
Sustainability
Focal Point
Arts
Alumni News
Grand Valley Magazine
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/GVMagazineSpring2017
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https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/GVMagazineFall2016
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https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/Spring2016GVMagazine
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/Winter2016GVMagazine
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/2015FallGVMagazine
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https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/GVMSpring2015
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https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/Grandvalley/GVMFall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/Grandvalley/grandvalleymagazine
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/gvsu/GVmagazine/fall_2013
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