Tuesday, April 6, 2010
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Gardening workshop marks beginning of Into the Streets Week
The Center for Community Outreach and Environmental Action to Revitalize the Heartland held a gardening workshop outside the Kansas Union Monday as part of Into the Streets Week.
Risa Miyuki, a freshman from Osaka, Japan, decorates a pot with a painted heart outside of the Kansas Union Monday afternoon. Miyuki was participating in Into the Streets Week, which is put on by the Center for Community Outreach to help encourage service work and equip students with the tools they need to become campus leaders in this field. Miyuki said she participated because "It seemed very fun."
About 40 students gathered in front of the Kansas Union Monday to plant a new bed of flowers and earn community service hours. It was the first of many events that will make up this year’s Into The Streets Week, which features various community service activities and a speech from former Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams.
The Center for Community Outreach began its weeklong event in an effort to raise student awareness about community service opportunities on campus and in Lawrence.
This year, Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little made a service pledge of 100,000 community service hours to be completed by the University community by the end of this semester.
Erin Atwood, a sophomore from Topeka and co-coordinator of Into The Streets Week, said she thought people didn’t do things on campus because they weren’t aware of the opportunities.
“This is a big campaign and it’s really public so students realize there are a ton of organizations they can get involved with,” Atwood said.
Atwood said students could log their service hours that count toward the chancellor’s initiative on www.kuworks.ku.edu/service. So far, the website has logged 74,386 community service hours from students, faculty and alumni.
However, this year’s events not only will lead up to Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little’s inauguration Sunday, but will also feature keynote speaker and former Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Kansas Union. Williams won the award in 1997 for her humanitarian work and her involvement with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
“The speaker is not the focus, but we wanted to get someone that would get people really excited,” said Greg Loving, a sophomore from McPherson and co-coordinator of Into the Streets Week. “There are not many Nobel laureates that have come to KU.”
He said one of the specifications the co-coordinators had for a keynote speaker was an individual who would help “equip students with tools they need to become self-sufficient leaders at KU.”
Into the Streets Week Events
Tuesday: A Taste of KU, all day; Jubilee Café, 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Wednesday: Movie Night, Hollywood Theatres, 6:30 to 8 p.m.; speaker Jody Williams, 7 p.m. in the Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union
Thursday: Crafts Day, 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Burge Union
Friday: Food Drive, 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. by KU Dining Facilities; Jubilee Café
Saturday: Campus Advocacy Core, 9 to 11:30 a.m. in the Burge Union; Flapjacks for Philanthropy, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Eaton Hall; Dance Marathon, 3:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. in the Ambler Student Recreation Center
Sunday: Dog Jog, 11 a.m. at the Burge Union; Chancellor’s inauguration, 1 p.m. at the Lied Center
Williams, with her background and history of humanitarian work, met that specification to a tee, he said.
Not only will Williams speak on Wednesday night, but she will also be attending dinners and receptions with individual groups, such as the University Scholars Program, whose topic this year is Rhetorics of the Nobel Prize.
“It brings out a lot of issues people aren’t aware of and gets them involved with humanitarian work they didn’t know existed or they had a means to contribute to the cause,” said Sida Niu, a sophomore from Overland Park and co-coordinator of Into the Streets Week, of Williams’ speech.
Throughout the week, volunteer groups and organizations will host multiple events for students to participate in, such as Lifeline, a program in which high school students shadow KU students for a day.
David Wilcox, a senior from Manhattan and co-director of CCO, said he thought the week of community service events was a good way for students to not only learn more about themselves, but to make a difference in someone else’s life as well.
“Community strength on campus and in Lawrence creates a sense of togetherness, and I think that helps a community move forth and progress,” Wilcox said. “Lawrence definitely does feed off it.”
Loving said he is looking forward to participating in the events this week, but, as a co-coordinator, he said he was more excited to help get other people involved.
“I’ve done a lot with Habitat For Humanity, but that’s just me doing one thing and with this you can reach a lot of different people and multiply your effect,” Loving said.
— Edited by Cory Bunting
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