Student Council’s newly launched Civic Engagement Committee gave its first presentation last night, expressing a desire to increase student outreach and create an online resource of all the civic engagement opportunities available to University students.
Committee Chair Laura Nelson said the Committee currently has two roles at the University, the first of which involves several smaller projects to inform students of current Committee projects. The second goal involves the Committee addressing issues that have been raised in the last few years by students and the University’s Public Service Advisory Board created last spring. The new Committee hopes to deliver a presentation to the board in April about what programs and initiatives should be institutionalized, Nelson said.
“They want to hear from the Student Council and the Committee and all of us to see what we can use at U.Va in terms of public services and other resources,” she said.
Nelson noted that the Committee is now working to create a central online resource for students to obtain information about activities and opportunities available at the University.
“There’s a lot going on at U.Va in terms of civic engagement — whether it’s for research to new CIOs, to events or internship opportunities,” she said. “There’s a lot going on and it’s really hard to navigate ... There’s a group that’s compiling everything that’s going on here and putting all that information in one place and ... [making it] accessible to all students.”
Second-year Engineering student Manoj Kunthu believes such a resource would be useful.
“I would use it,” Kunthu said. “I often find myself having a lot of free time, so I think I’d benefit from building my resume with tools from such a Web site.”
Nelson said she hopes the information will be consolidated into a Web site that will hopefully be available in the fall with support from Director of Technology Services Chris Husser and the Public Services Advisory Board Technology Committee.
Nelson said another goal of the Committee is to increase student outreach, particularly to first-year students.
“There’s another group focused on student outreach so that when first-years get here, they know all the different ways they can get involved in the community,” she said, adding that the Committee hopes to create a civic engagement fair that would present all the opportunities available to first-year students.
Garrett Trent, head of the Connections Within Charlottesville Committee — a subcommittee of the Civic Engagement Committee — said he hopes the Committee will allow ample opportunities to reexamine the notion of civic engagement.
“We want to establish long-term connections [and] take an innovative look at civic engagement and learn how we can combine what we do at U.Va ... to what we do in the community,” Trent said. He noted that his subcommittee already has several projects in the works, including the creation of a homeless soccer team and a trash cleanup in April, as part of a joint-effort with the Hope Community Center.
Nelson added, however, that the Committee is not primarily focused on creating new projects, but on creating a better avenue for informing students of already existing and beneficial opportunities.
“I think a part of it is finding a way to have all students know about all the things that are already here and realize that there are a lot of ways to get involved and making it easier to do that,” she said.
Read More
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 5 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
Dean Rucker honored with Z Society’s highest honor, Pale Z Award
By Brendon Bordwine | 22 hours agoThe Society has a storied history of honoring University leaders with the Pale Z.
Students receive free STI testing through U.Va. Health and Wellness
By Jackie Bond | YesterdayThrough funding from Student Council, students are now able to receive free STI testing with SHW which includes tests for HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Hepatitis C.
