The Westcott Street Cultural Fair that is. Each year Honors students volunteer at this fun event just a few blocks east of campus. Here’s what a few had to say:
“As a senior,” said Siying Wang, “this was my last Westcott fair. It has been fun to be a performer in the parade, a volunteer at the fair and also a fair goer. I really appreciate the community’s effort in organizing this special event every year. It makes me feel more involved in the community.”
Avery Gray “loved playing with the children and painting their faces. It was really great to make them smile and contribute to their experience at the Fair. This experience definitely had an impact on me becoming a more active citizen of the city. This is my second year in Syracuse and I think that becoming involved in the Westcott Festival was important for self-growth and growth as a community. In the future I hope to volunteer at community events. It has taught me that it is the people that define a city, not the city that defines the people. It was a joy to see the community coming together in celebration. I will look for these kinds of opportunities in my volunteering future.”
Jonathan Aziz didn’t discover the fair until his senior year and felt “it was great to see the community brought together, sharing their talents, interests, and company. I hope to be a part of similar community gatherings in the future.”
For information about this year’s fair, please visit http://www.westcottfair.org/: to volunteer, email info@westcottfair.org
Alexandra Koskoris, a freshman studying Public Communications in Newhouse, volunteered for the weekend at The Food Bank of Central New York through a pre-orientation program on campus. There Alexandra helped package fruits and non-perishable foods that would be delivered to impoverished families. She also spent some of her time volunteering at a local food pantry where she helped prepare meals and cleaned dishes for less fortunate families. An obviously humbling experience, Alexandra said that “the amount of work and organization it takes to keep The Food Bank and pantry running was eye-opening. This experience allowed me to help others who don’t have as much as some of us.” As for future civic engagement opportunities, Alexandra is excited to continue her volunteer work with The Food Bank and “create real relationships with people” as she becomes a consistent volunteer.
Benjamin Snyder, a senior in the Newhouse School, volunteered at the North Park Village Nature Center as a Natural Areas Manager. The Nature Center is a part of The Chicago Park District, which spans over 8,100 acres and is the largest municipal park in the US. North Park Village Nature Center boasts a 46 acre nature preserve and educational facility as well as woodland, wetland, prairie, and savanna trails. The mission of the Nature Center is to provide visitors with a hands-on opportunity to learn about wildlife and natural resources in an urban setting. Benjamin’s time as a Natural Areas Manager was spent working hard; he helped distribute fresh mulch on frequently used trails and prepared seeds for Spring by extracting them from plants. Through this experience, Benjamin gained an understanding of why Civic Engagement is a requirement in the Honors program here on campus. He said that “it is important to volunteer. There are very few paid employees at North Park. Without volunteers like them and myself, the park might struggle.” Regarding future volunteer opportunities, Benjamin says that he hopes to continue doing work that is “unique to a particular environment and represents an important contribution to a good cause.”
Alec Hembree, a senior in the Architecture school, spent Saturdays of his Spring semester as a chaperon for SU Recreation Services and Outdoor Education. During his volunteer work, Alec oversaw the Lake Placid day drip SU offered for students, and chaperoned the Ski and Snowboard program on campus. He was responsible for keeping track of the transportation of students to and from the event activity site and monitoring the safety of the students attending the trip. Before becoming a chaperon for these events, Alec actually attended these events as a student. Having this insight as both an attendee and a chaperon, Alec said that “I have a greater understanding of the amount of work required to organize a mass of students for activities and of the necessity of responsibility in the case of injury during the event. There is a lot of hard work put into the events that I had so much fun at.” Alec says that he is still a chaperon for SU Recreation Services and hopes to further develop his leadership skills and sense of responsibility.
Jennifer Lawson, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, volunteered her Spring Break as a member of Global Brigades. Global Brigades is the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. Their vision is to improve quality of life and their mission is to resolve global health and economic disparities through the empowerment of student volunteers such as Jennifer. During her time with Global Brigades, Jennifer participated in a medical brigade for three days in Honduras. There, the brigade established a medical clinic and saw over 400 patients. The experience offered development of valuable leadership skills and allowed Jennifer to reflect on the luxuries we utilize every day. Jennifer said that from this experience “I have learned to never take the modern medical care we have for granted. The majority of people I saw during this experience had never received any type of medical treatment or care before. The simplicity of their lives and health problems shed light on the amenities we take for granted on a daily basis.”
