Boise State University’s Student Involvement and Leadership Center organizes many on-campus and community service opportunities for students to partake in.
Volunteer service opportunities are put on solely through student involvement as well as in collaboration with other local organizations such as Boise Farmers Market and Diane Moore Nature Center.
Leo Mironovich, a graduate assistant for the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, works on developing volunteer opportunities specifically for students to partake in.
Along with local service projects in collaboration with local organizations, Student Involvement coordinates “Service Saturdays” throughout the academic year. These events are held on the weekends to fit the typical student schedule.
An upcoming Service Saturday will take place on Nov. 12 near Lucky Peak State Park in collaboration with the Boise River ReWild Project and the Diane Moore Nature Center.
This conservation-based service project gives student volunteers the opportunity to restore meadows and forests in the local area that are being overrun with weeds by planting new native seedlings near Lucky Peak.
Many Service Saturday opportunities revolve around conservation, including Boise River and Foothills clean-up projects and local wildlife restoration.
Taya Thornton | The Arbiter
Other service options are offered by local organizations, like assisting the Boise Farmers Market in picking and bagging groceries for delivery.
Grace Johnson, a sophomore studying communication at Boise State University, shared her first experience volunteering for Service Saturday in an email to The Arbiter.
“This was my first time volunteering through the school! I love that the service opportunities at BSU are so organized and easy to jump in and help with little to no experience,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson volunteered for a river clean-up project on Saturday, Sept. 24.
“We cleaned up trash along the gorgeous boise river in honor of National Public Lands Day! It was a great experience, we got to meet people and spend some time by a beautiful public area right next to campus,” Johnson wrote. “I would urge students with little to no experience to find an organization on campus that they are interested in and see if there are any volunteer opportunities.”
Pimpawan Mansap, a senior and exchange student from Thailand majoring in civil engineering, volunteered at the same event, which was his second volunteer project through the school.
“It’s only been a month for me here as an exchange student, but River Clean Up is my second time volunteering with BSU,” Masnsap wrote in an email to The Arbiter. “The first event was at Hyde Park street fair where we helped recycling. That was fun too!”
Mironovich shared that Student Involvement also provides service opportunities called “alternative breaks,” which take place during Boise State’s scheduled spring break.
These service projects are offered to students who would like to travel and participate in volunteer work during spring break. Trips are either local in Idaho, or take place regionally.
Mironovich shared that for last year’s alternative breaks, some students traveled to northern Idaho to partake in conservation projects, while others traveled to Zion National Park to volunteer at an animal sanctuary.
Mironovich emphasized the value of these service opportunities in allowing students to have experiences they might otherwise not get to have.
“We really believe that it’s a great experience for students to have wonderful opportunities to meet people obviously across campus, make friends amongst their peers, but also people in the community which is a really cool thing,” Mironovich said. “It’s a great way to branch out, get to learn Boise a little bit more, as well as build relationships with people that you might be interested in working with some day.”
Mironovich shared that these service opportunities will look great to future employers, and allow students to make a difference in the community.
“It makes you feel good, it makes you realize, ‘Hey, you know the things that I can do matter, and I can make a difference,’” Mironovich said.
Students can view and sign up for service opportunities through Boise State’s service Engage page.
