People often talk

about what they feel is lacking at Ashland University: Wi-Fi

access, variety in Convo, excitement, etc.

But if there’s one

thing AU doesn’t lack, it’s opportunities to give back to the

community.

Community service has

been an essential part of campus life at AU for years, and it’s

still growing.

Four years ago,

Community Care featured five teams: Habitat Team, Hunger Team,

Youth & Literacy, Adopt-a-Grandparent and Environment Team (now

known as the Green Team). Since then, they’ve added two teams –

Crisis Crew and Peers for Animal Welfare – in addition to expanding

the Habitat for Humanity team to include a full executive board of

leaders.

The added Habitat

leadership was in response to more community service growth on

campus.

This year, the group

took two teams of people instead of just one on their spring break

build, reflecting double the interest in participating.

Community Care is the

heart of the Center for Community Service but it isn’t the limit

for opportunity.

Greek Life also plays

an important role in community service. Each sorority and

fraternity has its own philanthropy, in addition to the Greek

community’s group service efforts.

All of them host

events that others on campus can participate in or attend to help

raise money or awareness and collect donated goods.

Last year, AU teamed

up with Colleges Against Cancer and the American Cancer Society to

host the first-ever AU Relay for Life, one of the ACS’s primary

fundraising events.

The AU community

stepped up to make the event a success, forming 14 teams with 260

participants.

This year, there are

even more teams, and the event outgrew its former location, the

Kates Gymnasium; the 2011 Relay for Life will be held throughout

the Rec Center, a much more spacious facility.

With a variety of

other honoraries and organizations also contributing to the

community in their own ways, the chances for students to give

community service a try are myriad, and the types of service to

choose from are nearly limitless.

If you’re a hands-on,

crafty kind of person, there’s an event for you. If you’re a

planner or a leader, there’s a group for you.

If you’re a people

person, an animal person or someone better suited to staying behind

the scenes, there’s a service opportunity for you. And if you’d

rather just give a buck to someone else to help them do the work,

you can easily do that, too.

You can pick your

cause, or create one, if none of the existing groups suits your

passion. Many students have done exactly that.

This says a lot about

the character of the AU community as a whole. Perhaps one of our “I

am” statements should be, “I am compassionate.”