Why SERV?

Fall semester marks the start of a new school year with new students, new friends, and renewed responsibilities. So if you have been given any type of scholarship from Menlo that means that you owe the SERV office 30 new hours of volunteering by the end of spring semester.

But don't fret, SERV offers you a number of easy and painless ways to complete your hours on your schedule.

SERV is a unique program that was created in 2001 that uses events to engage students with an opportunity to bolster their awareness of problems both medical and domestic and gives students a way that they can help make an impact.

"We offer around 15 events per semester. It's really easy and fun to volunteer because you are working with peers and friends so there is already a sense of camaraderie," said Menlo College Senior and SERV Director, Heidi Gonzalez.

The SERV events can range from breast cancer walks, bake sales for charity, to speaking to middle school students about the importance of studying. All events have transportation provided, if it is required, and information about up coming events are posted all around campus on large, colorful flyers as well as in regular campus wide emails.

"They gave me eight hours for donating the blood in the Student Union after I finished my classes. It's nice to know that my blood is going to help save someone's life," said Brigid Yu.

Just in case you still aren't sold and hope that if you ignore the hours they will disappear, they won't, but your degree might.

"Every student is responsible to complete their SERV hours. It is part of their scholarship package. If you don't complete your SERV hours or have proof that you did other volunteer work you can be in jeopardy of not graduating," said Rachel Tipton, Director of Academic Advising.

Stop by the SERV office, located in the back of the Student Union, to see what how many hours you still need to accomplish and what kind of individual volunteering you can do to earn more hours.