Listen Here
By: Olivia Wile
Email – wileo@findlay.edu
Twitter- o_wile
The University of Findlay hosted its 14th annual Orientation Service Project on Saturday, August 19.
Not only does the yearly event help new students meet their classmates, it also allows them to give back to the Findlay community right away.
Director of Service and Community Engagement, Crystal Weitz, explains the importance of this event.
“The Office of Service and Community Engagement links UF to the local community through beneficial service projects,” Weitz states. “We believe that learning through service will benefit the individual as well as the community in lasting ways.”
This year, there were 682 participants, including 584 first-year students and 98 project leaders.
Sophomore physical-therapy student, Madison Arnold, was one of the project leaders this year.
“My group was able to clean, organize, and disinfect toys in about 12 children’s rooms at Gateway Church in just a few hours, where if it were only the staff, it may have taken them days or even weeks!” Arnold explains.
Bill Corbin of Gateway church elaborates on the efforts of Arnold and her group.
“[It] saved us a huge amount of time,” Corbin states. “They put together a lot of furniture and cleaned toys. At CO9, they cleaned classrooms.”
The orientation service project was not simply a welcome week obligation for Arnold.
“[Service] is a large part of my life,” Arnold states, “it is a simple way to help make someone smile, and to help make someone’s life just a little bit easier.”
She explains why it is important to give back to the Findlay community.
“Service is big in any community, but it is mostly important that we are able to give back to such a wonderful city like Findlay. The City of Findlay offers so much support to the University of Findlay that we are able to repay by doing service projects,” Arnold concludes.
