The Online Reflector

The University of  Indianapolis began its celebration of Homecoming Week on Sept. 29 with the eighth annual Super Saturday of Service. UIndy partnered with the United Way, sending hundreds of students out to volunteer in honor the university’s motto, “Education for Service.”

“It [Super Saturday] began back when Susan Decker, [who was] Circle K president and involved in student government, had a vision for a campus wide service project,” said Executive Director of Student Services Dan Stoker.

According to Stoker, Indianapolis Student Government runs the event. In January, however, Stoker will be looking to hire an intern to coordinate the event.

Stoker said that every student organization was offered a chance to participate. Many, including United Methodist Student Association, Residence Hall  Association and Circle K, accepted.

Many freshmen were required to participate in Super Saturday  as part of their New Student Experience courses, while others were looking for service hours.

Freshman nursing major Emily Byrd said she had to do a community service project for a nursing course, and Super Saturday was recommended.

Stoker said that the Welcome Week service day and the Great UIndy Clean-Up get students to volunteer around campus, but Super Saturday gets them out into the community on a broader scale. Stoker said that Super Saturday is UIndy’s way of participating in the United Way’s Day of Caring and helps students get involved at many diverse sites.

“When some students go to Animal Control and another goes to help with the homeless and another working with sustainability, it allows conversations to start,” Stoker said.

One site, Global Peace Initiatives, is an urban garden whose goal is to make sure that no one in Indianapolis goes hungry.

When the two buses full of UIndy students arrived, students were divided into groups according to what they were best at. If they could weed, build, carry items, or plant, then that  is what they did. One group weeded the entire garden and the area around the walkway.

Some students said that they made Super Saturday an educational experience. Freshman physical therapy major Max Galipeau was a part of the gardening team.

“I learned the difference between a weed and a flower,” Galipeau said.

A team was assigned to plant flowers that had been donated. Others created a line and passed buckets full of organic soil, which GPI makes, to areas where they were planting new gardens.

Because GPI tries to make everything it needs, one group salvaged lumber to make tables, planters and benches. Freshman physical therapy major Tori Freshour said that he simply did what he was told, pulling apart lumber with a hammer.

The largest accomplishment of the day was putting up a greenhouse for winter gardening. A team had come prior to the UIndy teams and put nails halfway through wood to keep the plastic in place. The UIndy teams secured the plastic. Freshman biology major Reed Holcomb said that it was difficult to get everything even.

Associate Director of Career Services Lela Mixon said that seeing all the students work together to put up the greenhouse was rewarding.

Stoker said that the number of participants in Super Saturday grows each year, as does the effect the campus has on Indianapolis, with more than a thousand hours of community service in one day.