Student volunteer, organization activities lessen over summer, but look ready to spring up in fall

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CMU’s Volunteer Center and registered student organizations activities decline over the summer but show signs of healthy involvement in the fall.

Tom Idema, assistant director of Student Life, said he will soon see more interaction with RSOs through the new OrgSync system because the renewal process for RSOs has begun, as well as registration for MAINstage.

New students going through orientation have been shown how to work OrgSync and are quickly signing up for groups, he said.

“It’s exciting because we get an email when there is a new user,” Idema said.

The new OrgSync has received some updates since spring semester and has been made more user friendly, said Lake City senior Kim Hanson, an employee of the Volunteer Center.

No new RSOs have been registered online with OrgSync so far, though Idema said he expects to see a few ideas coming into the Office of Student Life soon.

The Volunteer Center’s student activity drops dramatically in the period between spring and fall semesters, Hanson said.

She said Le Tour de Mont Pleasant and various Red Cross blood drives have utilized volunteers, but most events suffer to get enough student volunteers.

Like the Volunteer Center, most RSOs also do not have a large presence on campus during the summer break, Idema said.

He said some groups do remain involved since several fraternities and sororities have national conferences, leadership training and alumni outings during the summer months.

Milford graduate student Christopher Armelagos, vice president of Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, said his fraternity is member driven. Because many members do not have the resources to stay in Mount Pleasant during the summer months, the group is not as active.

“That is not to say that PAD is not active in the summer,” Armelagos said. “The executive board members and the committee chairs are using these summer months to learn about their new leadership roles and start actively planning for the fall semester.”

The Student Organization Center in Bovee University Center housed an office for Phi Alpha Delta in the spring, he said, but the organization was asked to clean out its space at the end of the semester.

Idema said the SOC’s move within the UC over the summer has made it relatively unused since spring classes ended.

“Groups that already have spaces get a space in the new location, but are required to have a certain number of office hours or a different RSO will get that spot,” he said.