Volunteer Fair draws students


Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1998	Volunteer Fair draws students By DAVID ANDREWS Collegian Staff Writer They may not have stormed the HUB Ballroom in droves, but those University students who visited the Student Volunteer Fair yesterday were enough to make it a success.
Aristides Otero (senior-landscape architecture) receives information about Eco-Action from Bob Taylor (senior-English) and Dana Mock (senior-environmental resource management) at the Student Volunteer Fair. The fair was held yesterday in the HUB Ballroom. (Collegian Photo/Andrew A. Roach - click for full size image)	Forty-seven organizations from the University and surrounding community represented themselves with leaflets, sign-up sheets and souvenirs inviting students to volunteer. Some used candy and pencils to entice students, while volunteers from Shaver's Creek Environmental Center brought along a stuffed owl and beaver. Regardless, the crowd was much smaller than it was Fall Semester. Such a drop is typical in Spring Semester because most volunteers sign up Fall Semester and yesterday's turnout continued that trend. About 4,000 people attended in the fall, said organizer Matthew Niziol, and this semester's turnout was in the low hundreds. Regardless, the turnout was the largest ever for the spring fair, Niziol said, and most of the organizations were upbeat about the response it received. "The students seem very enthusiastic," said Lydia Abdullah, a board member for Habitat for Humanity. Abdullah said Habitat for Humanity is a popular group because it fits into students' schedules. Rather than holding meetings, the group only asks attendance when volunteers are needed to help work on a house, which usually happens on weekends. Patrick Chernay (junior-psychology) said despite students' busy schedules, there is almost always time for volunteering. "The more you have on your plate, the more you get done," he said.
Neil Gulati (junior-premedicine) informs Lana Dedominicis (sophomore-biology and biobehavioral health) about the Penn State Student Red Cross Club. (Collegian Photo/Andrew A. Roach - click for full size image)	While Chernay decided to volunteer for personal reasons, others attended the fair because volunteering is required for a class. In the College of Education and other education-related majors, students are required to document at least 80 hours of volunteer work. One goal of the fair is to integrate the classroom experience with volunteering and make the volunteering more engaging, Niziol said. Next Spring Semester, the fair may close one hour early to give faculty a chance to meet with various organizations and coordinate class work with volunteering. "We want students to work on projects that utilize what is being taught," Niziol said, "and be able to bring it to the real world."