There have been conversations circulating among FAMU students on community service opportunities. Some students have been complaining about how difficult it is to find these opportunities, while others believe that students just don’t look hard enough.
Students have either been eager or frustrated with finding these opportunities to help with their involvement in on-campus organizations.
Membership for many campus organizations, specifically Greek letter organizations which are popular among students, require interested students to submit community service hours on iStrike. This has left students who are interested in these organizations looking for ways to satisfy their service hours.
Agribusiness major Marley Campbell is a first-year student who has been struggling to find opportunities for community service. Campbell said that she’s been looking forward to joining certain organizations, but her lack of service hours has made it challenging.
“I feel like I haven’t seen that many community service events happen this semester,” Campbell said. “It’s frustrating for me because I want to be a member of a lot of things, and I want my hours to help me stand out.”
For other students, logging community service hours has not been as challenging.
Sean Geigher, a second-year criminal justice major, felt similar to Campbell during his first year at FAMU, but quickly had a change of heart. Geigher said that he found it easier to find community service opportunities once he put himself out there.
“I just started meeting people who were in the organizations I was interested in and following the orgs on social media,” Geigher said. “I think the more opportunities came to me the more I made myself available. No one’s going to hand you anything.”
Geigher said he was surprised at how easy it was to log hours once he made himself available.
“A lot of these organizations will hold their own community service events because that’s something they want to be known for,” Geigher said. “I just go to the ones I’m interested in, and I’ve got 10 hours already.”
Students who have had difficulty finding opportunities for community service can look to online resources if they haven’t yet done so. In the events folder on iStrike, students can customize their results to only show service events coming up.
During the last week of classes Psi Mu Alpha Sinfonia will be hosting a toy drive on Nov. 30, and Alpha Phi Omega National Service fraternity will be organizing a donation closet on Dec. 3.
There are also opportunities available off campus for students. Leoncountyfl.gov has a page on its website titled “Volunteer Opportunities” which allows anyone to apply online to a local organization of their choice.