Students participate in Super Service Weekend
St. Johns freshman Nick Hallenbeck cleans up the roadsides in Midland County.
This weekend many events took place on and off campus to get students involved in volunteering through Super Service Weekend.
The weekend of service is hosted by the Health Professions Residential College.
The event takes place one weekend every semester in the residential college. Events include Camp Linden, grilled cheese fundraiser, Adopt-A-Highway, a food pantry and a 5K. Last semester the HPRC completed more than 530 hours of service with a goal of 475. This semester the goal was raised to 500 hours, but results won't be announced until later this week.
"It's really good to see so many people getting involved in super service weekend," said Tawas City senior and HPRC peer mentor Shanna Britt. "It makes me so happy to see how far this event has come since I came up with it almost 3 years ago."
Britt is coordinator for Camp Linden, where students help out a Girl Scout camp in Linden, MI. The event took place all day on Friday. Volunteers assist by taking down their tents in the fall and putting them back up in the spring. They have seven different campsites, each with about twelve tents.
"This is my favorite service event that HPRC does," Britt said. "You get to spend the whole day outside helping out those who host camps for future leaders. You also really get to know your fellow residential college members and work together to accomplish a goal."
This spring, the HPRC had 30 students at Camp Linden. In the past, they have had close to 50, so this year required more effort from the volunteers. Overall, each member who participated donated eight hours of service.
"I enjoy doing Camp Linden," said Grand Rapids freshman Dave Bancuk. "It's good knowing we made a difference and helped out the Girl Scouts who needed it. It's always a lot of fun hanging outside with your friends, too."
Another major event that took place was Adopt-A-Highway, which took place Friday afternoon. About 19 people volunteered at this event. The students carpooled to M-20 and collected trash along the side of the road.
"This past weekend was my first time doing Adopt-A-Highway," said Durand freshman Dylan Szakal. "It should definitely be an interesting experience and I plan on doing more of this type of service. Volunteering is really important for students to be involved in, especially if they are going into a field where they work with people and the community."
The "5k Walk/Run & HotCakes for Hospice" featured Chris Cakes flying pancakes. Students had to catch pancakes on their plates to raise money.The race was located at Commission on Aging, and 100 percent of the proceeds went to Woodland Hospice Morey Bereavement Center.
Volunteers ran the registration tables, start and finish lines and guided the runners and walkers around turns with encouragement.
"I chose to volunteer for this event because of Super Service Saturday," said Midland senior Alexis Cherven. "I have volunteered at other 5Ks before and found them very enjoyable. It felt really good to cheer people on throughout the event. I was stationed toward the end of the 5K, so I was excited to be able to cheer them on and give them that extra motivation to make it to the finish. It was amazing to see such a wide range of participants take part in the event, from young kids to individuals in their 80s."
