Twice a month, PARTICIPATE, the student leadership board within the Office of Student Life (OSL) that focuses on organizing community service and volunteering projects, hosts events for Augustana students and the Quad Cities (QC) community. PARTICIPATE hosted the “Volunteers Rock!” fair and festival on Saturday, March 7, from the Brew all the way to the Thomas Tredway Library, highlighting local non-profit organizations and showcasing student talent through music. 

As the planning process took place, the event coordinators wanted to come up with a name that resonated with Augustana students, wasn’t marketed as just an Augustana event and appealed to the public, who were invited to the fair and connected to the concert portion of the event.

The event coordinators came up with the name “Volunteers Rock!” to connect volunteering with Rock Island and incorporate a music theme into the event. 

Sophomore, Fay Zahra Fqiyah, co-chair of PARTICIPATE, said her experience in Morocco drew her to the role and led her to pursue volunteering opportunities both on campus and at Nest Café in Rock Island. 

“In Morocco, we had a big earthquake. Unfortunately, a lot of people lost their homes, and a lot of people died. We [helped] people in Morocco. This is a part of our culture,” Zahra Fqiyah said. 

Volunteering can be rooted in personal values and cultural traditions, and events like “Volunteers Rock!” aim to create opportunities for students to channel those motivations into local service while balancing the demands of college life.

Although the MetroLINK bus has become a handy transportation resource for Augustana students to get from place to place, the bus cannot take students everywhere. PARTICIPATE provides transportation for students to ensure they can be part of the organization’s mission to make community service and volunteering opportunities accessible to students on campus.

Rey Benschop, director of student activities, said the program was created to help students engage in volunteering opportunities even in the midst of busy schedules. 

“I think the whole goal of PARTICIPATE is really to offer opportunities that are more one-off opportunities to take a Saturday afternoon and volunteer at a local school or [give] food to those who need things like that, without the long-term commitment,” Benschop said. 

In the fast-paced college environment, students often feel the need to achieve everything they can in four years to build their resume. However, even if students cannot commit to long-term commitments to community service and volunteering experiences, those misconceptions can prevent students from recognizing smaller opportunities to give back.

Whether student availability to volunteer is more accessible on or off-campus, students have the option to partake in either choice that works best for them. Beth Ford, career coach in CORE, said that volunteering opportunities can be flexible and adaptable to students’ busy lifestyle.

“Students are super busy, but being able to look for those opportunities where maybe once a month, they could event volunteer on campus at Campus Cupboard, one hour the first Monday of the month or something like that, this shows commitment to one organization, looks good on a resume and it’s just good for that professional development,” Ford said. 

Regardless of how many times students volunteer, they can earn Viking Score points through the CORE office. Students can win up to 100 points and earn prizes along the way; once they are rewarded those prizes, points continue to go up. 

Students can also earn points through internships and visiting the CORE office. However, if students have those options why is it important for students to volunteer, especially if they feel like the most crucial part to achieve in the two to four year period?

Whether students volunteer for things they’re passionate about or want to try something new, it allows them the opportunity to take a step into what they value for their future beyond college.

“Volunteering allows students to explore organizations and causes they may not have thought about before, while also developing skills like teamwork, communication and leadership that are valuable in any career field,” Ford said. 

With so many options available to build resumes, there is no limit as to how much a student can develop as they begin building it brick by brick. That can come with lessons to even discover what they don’t like, which is a win in Ford’s eyes because it teaches them about their interests, values and potential career paths.

During the Volunteers Rock! fair and festival, students and community members had the opportunity to walk between tables from a variety of local nonprofit organizations. The fair allowed attendees to learn different service opportunities across the QC while speaking directly to representatives from various organizations for people of different passions and majors.

For students, the fair could be to fulfill the need of volunteer hours for their Greek group or to build their resume more intentionally. However, students could also potentially find their future internship at events as such. 

Alongside the nonprofit tables, the event also featured performances from student musicians, adding a concert element pre Slough Fest that reflected a concert theme where attendees could “rock” out as well. Attendees could also stop by activities such as student face painters and games, which allowed citizens outside of the Augustana community to interact with students and see their talents.

“We wanted it to feel less like a formal volunteer fair and more like a community event where people could enjoy the music, talk with organizations and realize that getting involved can be simple,” Benschop said. 

While the “Augie bubble” suggests a separation between campus and the surrounding QC area, events like Volunteers Rock! showcase that many students are interested in engaging with the broader community when those opportunities are accessible. By bringing local organizations onto campus, the event creates a space where students and community members can connect and learn from one another outside of other opportunities, such as internships and off-campus jobs.

According to the 2024 fall semester, approximately 66% of students live on campus, giving students more familiarity to the opportunities the QC has to offer and for local students as well.

As community service and volunteerism is important to Zahra Fqiyah, she believes giving back is just as crucial as it was back home in Morocco.

“We’re living here for [two to] four years… we’re part of the community, so we have to connect with it,” she said.