More than 100 students spent their Saturday morning giving back to the community as part of the inaugural Service Saturday of the new semester.
From daycare facilities to thrift stores to arboretums, the 140 volunteers were bused around the city in groups of six to 12 people as part of the monthly event put on by the Leadership and Service Center.
For students like fourth-year pre-pharmacy student Julian Gonzalez, Service Saturdays serve two purposes.
"For me, you need a certain amount of hours for grad school ... but also too it gives back," he said. Students who participate in Service Saturdays can use those hours to fulfill community service requirements for academic and extracurricular activities. On-campus organizations can also register and participate as groups.
Brand new members of the campus community like first-year economics student John Ring don't necessarily have community service requirements to meet, but they still find value in Service Saturday.
"Giving back to the community is what I think is really important," he said.
Gonzalez and Ring were assigned to Bright Horizons, a daycare center, where they helped do maintenance on the facility's "nature classroom." Along with the gardeners who created the project, their group pulled weeds and laid mulch to help make the area a safe, fun space for young children to learn about science.
"It's not really what something can do for us," Gonzalez said, "it's what we can do for other people."
The first Service Saturday of the year in particular allows students to sample different service opportunities in Columbia in the hopes they'll find something they're passionate about. For leadership coach Lacie Rhodan, who helps coordinate Service Saturdays, this embodies the real purpose of the event.
"It's a really good way for students, and new students who come to campus, to get an introduction both to USC and to the Columbia community," she said.
The Leadership and Service Center provides the service opportunities, transportation and lunch in the hopes of making it as easy as possible for students to volunteer. Site leaders like fourth-year international business and marketing student Jessica Pelfrey provide extra guidance at the actual service event.
"It's a way to allow students to serve ... it's a fast easy way to serve," she said.
Over 1,000 students participated in Service Saturdays during the previous academic year, part of 527,652 hours of service by university volunteers that year.