Some USU students complain there is nothing fun to do in a small town like Logan. They may find themselves watching movies or playing video games every weekend, groaning the entire time about how bored they are. However, some students have found volunteering to be a great cure for boredom and a great way to spend their free time. Two of these students are Emily Davis and Chris Gardner.
Davis has been involved in volunteering since she moved to Logan for college from Colorado three years ago.
“As a freshman, I went to a service seminar just out of curiosity,” she said. “At the service seminar I learned of a ton of volunteer opportunities here in Logan. I picked an organization that best fit my schedule and got involved.”
Since that seminar, Davis has had several volunteering opportunities and currently works with Bridgerland Literacy and the Cache Valley Humane Society, both of which, according to Davis, have their share of rewards and fun.
“I tutor for a little boy struggling in reading comprehension and spelling,” Davis said. “As an English major, I love having the opportunity to share my love of reading and writing with him. It’s a perfect fit.”
Sharing one of her favorite experiences from volunteering with Bridgerland Literacy, Davis fondly said, “The little boy I currently tutor loves pizza, and when I first started working with him we made an agreement that after a certain number of sessions, if he worked really hard we would have a pizza party. This really motivated him and after just a few sessions we bought pizza, root beer and cupcakes and spent the afternoon with his mom and brother celebrating his success in school. It was so much fun.”
The Humane Society is another perfect volunteering opportunity based on Emily’s interests and hobbies.
“Volunteering at the shelter is such a fun way to get involved,” Davis said. “I literally play with cats and dogs all day, and the kittens and puppies are so much fun.”
Davis said her volunteering tasks at the Humane Society consist of socializing the dogs and cats, walking and exercising the dogs, training and various odd jobs the society needs.
In the past, Davis has volunteered at hospitals, helping the nursing staff with its assignments or visiting the patients. Last year, she had the opportunity to volunteer for a Latino finance class for parents and their children.
“We would prepare a meal prior to the class, and while the parents went to the class, we would put together activities for the children to do,” Emily said.
Gardner, who is a senior, has also spent a fair amount of time doing volunteer work for different places in Cache Valley. Like Emily, he picked places to volunteer based off his talents, hobbies and interests. Most recently, Gardner had the opportunity to assist in building the Whittier Playground.
“That was something that interested me,” Chris said. “I helped put together the framework and the foundation for the playground. It was lots of hammer and nails and connecting things.”
As a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, Gardner said him and his fraternity brothers are always looking for ways to get involved. They participate in Adopt-A-Highway up Logan Canyon, and every spring they team with Red Cross to do a charity event.
“There is plenty of volunteering to be done out there, and we like to get every brother to participate,” he said.
In the past, Gardner has done a lot of volunteering for the theatre arts department on campus. He helped put together the sets for the department. He said volunteering for the department has been his favorite form of volunteering so far.
Gardner’s favorite part of volunteering is the people he meets at different volunteering events. “You meet people who live down the street from you who you never knew,” he said.
For students like Davis and Gardner, getting involved is a fun way to spend spare time in Cache Valley. For more information on how students can get involved, visit the Val R. Christensen Service Center on the third floor of theTaggart Student Center.
–lauren.gardner@aggiemail.usu.edu