NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University students began the fall semester by serving throughout the Natchitoches community Friday as part of the 1 of 7 initiative, which encourages students to choose one day of the seven-day week to do something for someone else.
Students gathered in the Student Union before departing for service projects at sites throughout the Natchitoches community. The service day was part of the university’s first-week activities and introduced students to opportunities to serve throughout their time at NSU.
The 1 of 7 initiative at NSU grew from a service movement created by NSU alumnus Kip Patrick and his wife, Liz Zipse, who spent 16 months traveling through 24 countries and volunteering at least one day each week. Their experiences developed into 1 of 7, an initiative encouraging people to make giving back a weekly practice.
Patrick, a Converse native who earned a degree in journalism from NSU in 1995, returned to the university as the 2014 New Student Convocation speaker. President’s Leadership Program coordinator Reatha Cox collaborated with Patrick to bring the 1 of 7 concept to NSU and design the initiative for NSU students. The idea is to choose one day of the week to do something for someone else, have fun and give back.
President’s Leadership Program mentor Madi Book said service is an important part of developing students as leaders.
“I think to be a good leader you must first be a servant and that makes you a servant leader,” Book said. “You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to make a difference. You can simply pick up trash or be a mentor to someone at the Boys and Girls Club and that makes you a good leader.”
The initiative is open to any NSU student interested in volunteering. Third-year President’s Leadership Program mentor Ellie Hardy said students from sororities, fraternities and service-based organizations including the Student Government Association, President’s Leadership Program and Purple Jackets participated.
Friday’s projects took students to locations across Natchitoches, where they assisted community organizations with cleanup, maintenance, organization, youth activities and other projects. Service sites included American Cemetery, Boys and Girls Club, Women’s Resource Center, Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches, NSU E-Lab Butterfly Garden, NSU Food Pantry, Timber Ridge Park, Service League of Natchitoches and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum.
Projects ranged from landscaping and garden maintenance to homework assistance, exhibit preparation, food pantry organization and cleanup.
Hardy led students volunteering at the NSU Food Pantry, where she is completing an internship. Students helped clean the pantry, check expiration dates and sort and organize donations. The project also introduced students to an on-campus service opportunity where they can continue volunteering.
“Serving the community is something that I’m interested in because I love the way that I get to give back to something that has given so much to me and help continue the important work that all of the people before me have done,” Hardy said.
For students participating for the first time, the service day introduced them to opportunities to continue giving back throughout the year.
“While you can start a dream by yourself, you can’t continue that dream without the support of other people and so I just kind of hope that students see how important that community is and if we all work together how big of an impact we can make,” Hardy said.