Unpack those bags

Its Friday afternoon and the halls are filled with students lugging laundry bags and suitcases down to their cars where they will clear the parking lots for home sweet home. Many of these students are under the impression that the little town of Milledgeville turns into a ghost town on the weekends.

However, with the help of Student Activities, Intramurals, the Campus Activities Board, and The G.I.V.E. Center Milledgeville is quit the opposite. Student Activities takes the activity fees that every student pays and puts them toward programs like Venture Out.

Venture Out is an outdoor recreational program dedicated to coordinating outdoor trips at little or no cost to a student. A few of the trips that are planned throughout the year consist of water rafting, rock climbing, backpacking and many more. Venture Out also provides clinics that teach outdoor skills, and team building programs are available for all Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) on campus.

When does Venture Out start? It’s already begun; in fact a group of students went on a backpacking trip over Labor Day weekend. So since it’s already started, how can you get involved? The man behind the scenes is Scott McCoy. His office is located in MSU and if you can’t catch Scott, his graduate assistant, Heather Heinz, should be a big help.
Venture Out has a mailing list that interested students are added too, and there should be an updated calendar up and running in a few days on their website at www.gcsu.edu/ventureout . There is also an information board inside MSU specifically dedicated to Venture Out.

Intramurals, also known as recreational sports, will also be starting up soon. Students can play everything from Slow-pitch Softball to Ultimate Frisbee. Any of the sports offered through intramurals are open to all students here at GC&SU. The Campus Activities Board (CAB) is also in charge of providing a variety of free activities for students to attend and participate in. Things like Free Movie Night, and Open Mic night are coordinated during the week, and they are always looking for new bands to schedule concerts on several Fridays throughout the year. To find out more about the Campus Activities Board (CAB) Mary-Elizabeth Watson is the director. Her office is also located inside MSU, and if you can’t seem to find her then CAB has a calendar on their website at www.gcsu.edu/student_affairs/stu_act/cab.html .

“Anyone can get involved, there is something for everyone,” said McCoy.
“So check the calendar regularly and be sure to sign up for a trip or two and play a few sports in between.”

Not an outdoor person? The G.I.V.E Center never sleeps. Student driven and Student run, the G.I.V.E. Center is the place to be. Student Coordinators develop new programs on their own and its up to the students to make sure that they are successful.

“I would like to encourage every student to participate in at least one organization before they graduate,” said Stiles.
Organizations like the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF), Best Buddies, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Habitat for Humanity are only a few of the ongoing projects that the G.I.V.E. Center volunteers work with.

Upcoming events include Music Fest sponsored by the United Way on September 14th, and the All Women’s Build House Kick-off on September 28th. Although the biggest event of the year will most likely be the Potato Drop on October 12th.

The Potato Drop has a special meaning behind it; this event was organized in honor of Majorie Salamone that was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th. Her family will be invited to Walter B. Williams where volunteers will be bagging up potatoes to hand out to the needy.

“We need all the volunteers we can get,” said Stiles. “We are going to need at least fifty volunteers for the Potato Drop to be a real success.”

If this sounds like fun drop by the G.I.V.E. Center located between the Methodist Church and the Governors Mansion, and grab a few brochures. They also have a website at www.gcsu.edu/student_affairs/GIVE/ that includes information about the G.I.V.E. Center’s history and tells about the different organizations they work with. The G.I.V.E. Center hopes to have a registration system up and running on the web in the next few weeks. Its never too late to start volunteering, the G.I.V.E. Center is always looking for new Volunteers.

Outdoor or indoor, it doesn’t matter, there are things around campus for everyone to participate in. Besides, getting involved and having fun are two key components of having a full college experience anyways.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 6 2002. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry