By Hope Loudon, Images: ASUN
On Saturday, November 3, the Department of Legislative Affairs at The Associated Students of the University of Nevada Reno (ASUN) hosted its Civic Engagement and Service Learning Conference.
The conference was a reflection of UNR’s increased commitment to creating service-minded citizens who will actively work toward a better future. As Madeline Burak, ASUN’s director of Media and Policy Analysis described the goal of the conference, “We want students to walk out of here feeling like they have the tools and the knowledge necessary to create change in their community.”
To this end, UNR had the privilege of hosting famous youth activist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow, who kicked off the conference with an inspiring keynote offering students encouragement and advice on how to make a difference. Farrow emphasized the need to provide information in a digestible format, to facilitate change through level access to education, and to make people feel like they are part of the solution.
Farrow provided much of the expert knowledge in the conference’s knowledge, action, reflection model. This component was critical because, as ASUN Director of Legislative Affairs Alex Bybee said, “Most changes begin with a conversation.” That conversation evolved as the conference went on to included a unique participatory service component and subsequent reflection.
Conference participants moved from learning to doing when they were taken into the community to serve with the Boys and Girls Club and Project Solution. Through visiting the facilities and assisting with various clean-up and mentoring tasks, participants gained an understanding of the importance of volunteers in sustaining local charities.
After completing their service, conference participants reflected on the meaning of their experience. Participants reactions included happiness because they were able to help children, surprise at the extent of the community’s needs, and eagerness to continue volunteering. These sentiments represent the building blocks for the culture of civic engagement that the conference sought to encourage.
Fortunately for the community, UNR’s push for civic engagement does not stop with this conference. The spring will bring two more conferences in ASUN’s leadership conference series. UNR also offers an Office of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement which helps students to fulfill service learning requirements for their classes, and to connect with partner organizations which provide volunteer opportunities throughout the community.
ASUN’s Student Engagement Coordinator Chris Partridge poetically ended the conference on the note that, contrary to what elementary school “citizenship” grades indicate, not doing bad things is not what it means to be a good citizen. Instead, citizenship is characterized by constantly striving to do good things and make a positive impact. With the promising efforts of ASUN’s innovative staff and dedicated students, the civic engagement conversation will surely continue.
