For nine months out of the year, many NIU students are temporary residents of DeKalb. That means our actions, the food we eat, places we go and people we see revolve around the city of DeKalb.

So, if 75 percent of the year is spent in a certain place, shouldn’t we be supporting that place and the people who live there? This is a rhetorical question; of course we should be supporting DeKalb.

There are dozens of community service organizations at NIU and in the DeKalb area. Students may not know where to get involved, which is a significant part of the problem.

The Student Involvement and Leadership Development organization has a Web site featuring service projects that fit many different types of students.

Some of those projects include Paws for a Cause, NIU Cares Day and Alternative Spring Break. The Student Involvement and Leadership Development office is conducting a Volunteer Fair on Sept. 16, for those looking to get involved.

“[Community service is] taking care of the community that takes care of you,” said Becky Harlow, Assistant Director of Student Involvement and Leadership Development. “Students that volunteer are dedicated, open-minded and they think beyond themselves. They are grateful for what they have and what others have done for them.”

Community service and volunteering also impact those who facilitate the programs.

It is not hard to get involved, but the hard part might be actually caring.

Getting involved in a service organization that affects you personally or someone you know can push you and others to help those who need it.

“It is important to give back to the community because it gives a positive image for the city of DeKalb,” said Edgar Ramirez, junior journalism major, and director of Mentoring for Academic Success (M.A.S.) at the Latino Resource Center. “If you help someone out, it creates a sense of paying it forward and it may encourage other friends and family to come to NIU.”

Mentoring for Academic Success, founded in 2004, targets first-year NIU Latino students who are looking to acclimate themselves to the NIU campus. “It feels good because at one point I was lost with very little direction about my life, education and my future,” said Ramirez.

“Especially as a Latino student at NIU, I didn’t know what to do and where to go for support. This program gives students what I didn’t have coming to NIU: guidance.”

Volunteering is a great way to help yourself as well as your community, especially during the worst recession in years.

“When you help others you feel good about yourself, and the person you helped definitely appreciates everything you have done,” said Elizabeth Elie, Computerized Music and Media Technology major, and Public Relations Chairwoman of S.I.S.T.E.R.S. “There are thousands of students here on Northern Illinois University’s campus, but there are not enough of them that are willing to help out in the NIU community. You never know who you will encounter and meet if you don’t get out there and network and get involved. In the long run, there are always rewarding things that are given to those who are active and willing to step up to the plate and help out others.”

There are already many college students getting involved. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service’s “College Students Helping America” report, the number of college students who volunteer went up by 600,000 students, or 20 percent, from the 2.7 million in 2002 to 3.5 million students in 2005. The report also stated that the volunteer rate for the general adult population was 28.2 percent in 2005, while the college student rate was 30.2 percent. “The growth in college volunteering has been generated primarily by youth who attended high school or were first-year college students during the terrorist attacks of 9/11” the report said.
“The correlation is indirect; a trickle-down effect. Helping your fellow neighbor was more important and valued,” said Harlow, who was a senior in college during the 9/11 attacks.

The people are there, the resources are there, and the programs are there. All you have to do now is utilize them. When you help others, you help yourself. So, ask yourself, what have I done for NIU lately? If the answer is not much, then join your fellow college students and go make a difference.

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