Find OUt First:

“Service learning” means growing by helping.  OU’s Office of Community Service is the best place to start. Here they have links for ongoing service projects as well as their “project of the week.”

Good Works, the local homeless shelter/community development / volunteer organization, has started a partnership with first-year students. Here’s their blog, which describes many ways students can get connected to the larger life of Athens and Southeast Ohio.   Full disclosure: I’ve supported Good Works for many years, and my husband has been a board member for a long time. I think their approach to “helping” is exactly right.  Get involved if you really want to make a difference – but beware, it might be you who ends up changing!