SGA Sponsors Week of Service by Ramya Sudhakar

by Ramya Sudhaka

For the first time ever, the SGA Service Committee hosted “The Week of Service” from September 12th-16th. Throughout the week, Stevens students joined teams of friends, clubs, sororities/fraternities, and residential halls to compete to see who can earn the most community service points for the week. Points were earned based upon percentage of team participation at each event.
Organizers of the event Nicole Santos and Jami Porzl thought “this would be a unique way to show the opportunities this campus has to help others.” The Week of Service was aimed to promote serving the Hoboken community and helping those who may be less fortunate. When asked whether or not Stevens prioritizes community service, Santos responded “the Stevens community is a family environment, which includes helping students and the greater community. I think the difficulty with performing community service in college is finding the time with our busy schedules, so we hope that Stevens Week of Service will make this easier.”
There were a diverse amount of events for groups to participate in, throughout the week. Santos stated, “she wanted to pick events that would apply to the diversity of interests at Stevens. All of these events seemed possible to engage students while benefiting different great causes.” For example, the Jean Shoes for Uganda will be improving lives across the ocean while Dog Toys and Sweaters will improve the lives of animals.
The teams competing in the event mostly consisted of organizations that attempt to make a large and lasting impact for the Hoboken community. Students involved in the SGA subcommittee, service organizations, Alpha Phi Omega, Campus Cursive, College Against Cancer, FeelGood, Habitat for Humanity, Rotaract, StevensThon and Stevens GSI competed for the most points in the events.

The Week of Service was a wonderful way to allow all organizations to make a united effort and go big in their impact in Hoboken and overseas through events like Jean Shoes for Uganda (volunteers cut jeans into shoe patterns, which are then sent to Uganda to help villager’s businesses), Letter Writing and Paracords, Plastic Beds for the Homeless, and many more.