Soon, Talley Student Union will be filled with around 1,800 students united under one goal: to improve the NC State and Raleigh community.
Service Raleigh, the annual NC State day of student volunteering, is coming up in a few weeks’ time. The Apr. 13 event will see students take to the streets to work on projects with around 70 event partners that benefit Raleigh, such as city beautification work.
Marsai Miller is a fourth-year studying neurobiology and Spanish, and is one of the three co-chairs for Service Raleigh. According to Miller, the day of service provides students with a greater connection to the Raleigh community.
“Creating a relationship between the local community and students on campus allows the students to actually reach out and understand more of what the needs are in the community, which creates such amazing relationships and bonds and allows a communication that you wouldn’t get being a part of an organization that is solely focused on on-campus issues,” Miller said.
Students can register for free on the event’s website until Apr. 1, and will meet at Talley at 8:00 a.m. on the day of the event. After an opening ceremony, students will be grouped together and sent out in teams attached to partnering organizations like 86IT — an organization focused on cleaning up city litter — or We Bleed Red — a student organization focused on identifying campus bathrooms lacking menstrual products. Students are expected to work until mid-afternoon depending on the partner’s needs.
“Four hours of your time,” Miller said. “That is a drop in the bucket in regards to how many hours you have in your life. Providing your time to better your community and to better somebody else’s life and ease somebody else’s day-to-day — I don’t see why you need convincing to do that.”
Bradley Schmidt, a fourth-year studying chemical engineering, works with Miller on the Service Raleigh Partners committee. Schmidt first worked with Service Raleigh during his freshman year, where he acted as a site leader for Service Raleigh and a partnering organization called Brown Bag Ministry.
“I felt like it was a great way to be around other people that are passionate about volunteering and learn about some other organizations as well,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt has participated in additional volunteering opportunities throughout his college career, including volunteering on weekends with Habitat for Humanity and participating in services trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica through the Alternative Service Break trip program at NC State. Schmidt said volunteering has made him a more compassionate person.
“It’s so easy on campus to get really in the zone, get into what you have to get done,” Schmidt said. “You have all these deadlines coming up — assignments, tests. It can be overwhelming at times. It’s easy to slip into thinking about what you have to do and checking the boxes off. But, I think my experiences have taught me to think more about others and how else I can help on campus. I feel like service doesn’t have to be a prescribed activity.”
Miller, whose work with Service Raleigh led her to volunteer frequently outside of the day of service, said she believes students participate in the event for the right reasons.
“I don’t think it is just a resume builder,” Miller said. “I think it is more so focused around people just wanting a reason to be selfless and looking for a reason to learn more about Raleigh.”
