Freshman Service Experience, the largest AU Welcome Week program for incoming freshmen, dedicated nearly 10,000 hours of service to D.C. neighborhoods last week.
FSE is a two-day service program for incoming students that began in 1989 and has attracted over 10,000 participants since then. Volunteers have gardened for hospitals, painted murals and organized books. Approximately 500 students signed up for FSE this year, according to an email from Marcy Fink Campos, the director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service, and AU also partnered with 46 organizations.
AU kicked off the 2015 FSE program with an opening ceremony on Aug. 25 that consisted of a series of guest speakers including Board of Trustees Chairman Jack Cassell, Class of 2014 graduate and Truman Scholar Deon Jones and Student Government President Sasha Gilthorpe.
Each speaker addressed the importance of service in their messages to the freshmen, and Jones said that his education at AU inspired him to continue to serve the community beyond graduation. He currently works as the executive director at Code The Streets, an organization that supports startup companies that work with inner city youth, according to its website.
“I knew I had something bigger than myself to serve when I came here,” Jones said.
Tess Harkin, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said Jones’ speech inspired her to serve during her time at AU as well.
“It was really great hearing him speak and hear his personal experience, like how his time at American helped change him,” Harkin said. “It gives me something to look forward to, to see how American changes me.”
Gail Hanson, the vice president of campus life, said she hopes service teaches students about the different quadrants in Washington, D.C. and contributes to the community in a meaningful way.
“We always hope it’s going to bring a sense of Washington to AU,” Hanson said. “We live in a beautiful part of the city, we’re safe, we have wonderful resources, but we want students to know, as some of our speakers underscore, that there’s another Washington, and we want people to take all of that in when they know and understand DC.”
FSE also gave students the opportunity to lead their peers and teach them about areas of the city outside of Tenleytown. Bria Justus, a sophomore in the School of International Service, participated in FSE last year and returned to help run the 2015 program. She said FSE offers students a chance to give back and meet people in the city.
“I think it’s a unique way to see D.C. because you’re not just going sightseeing, going to the monuments,” Justus said “You’re actually interacting with people that live in the city and going into the deeper issues that affect the city rather than just the pretty monuments.”
Hannah Reavis, a freshman in SIS, received an FSE volunteer assignment to work with Everybody Wins!, a non-profit group dedicated to improving literacy in D.C. and Arlington public schools. While volunteering, she said she spent most of her time inside an office, but she enjoyed the experience and learned new things about contributing to her community, she said.
“Before this I thought that community service was directly interacting with the people who you’re helping, but this shows me that even non-direct community service is helpful,” Reavis said.
