Service Saturdays are a Hit on Montana Campuses!

This semester Service Saturday programs seem to be popping up at more and more of our campuses throughout the state and with very good reason. What better way for college student to spend their weekend  than by taking advantage of an opportunity to get off campus and into their local communities with the goal of making a positive difference and helping meet some of the most pressing needs in their areas?  Furthermore, these events provide an opportunity for participants to meet a variety of new people, both other students and community members, while promising that all will have a lot of fun in the process!

Service Saturdays welcome all students, faculty, and staff to partake in various one-time service projects throughout the year, with the frequency at which they occur varying by campus. For instance, MSU & MSU-Billings both host one Service Saturday a month at which they offer a few different projects to choose from, while at UM's the program collaborates with just one site at a time and events occur on a  weekly basis.  This year projects have ranged from Habitat builds to spending time with seniors at an assisted living home to re-painting Bozeman's iconic "M" after it had been defaced by graffiti.

Shanna Ungate, Campus Corps leader at UM, has expressed how pleased she is with the success of Service Saturdays and how well they have really caught on amongst the campus community. She is happy to report that so far this year, every Service Saturday has been well attended and that the weekly email containing upcoming events now has a distribution list of over 400 students who have expressed interest in the program! She shares; "I think that Service Saturdays are a great in that they are a simple way for any student to get involved in service. And for those who are interested in the Campus Corps program, it allows them to get a taste of the various Missoula nonprofits which can then have an influence on which they decide to choose as their placement site." It certainly serves as a testament to the character of Montana students of higher education that they are increasingly choosing to spend their day off of class engaging in service work, and communities across the state are so grateful that they do!