Take on the challenge and get those service hours counted.
Welcome back!
After an ever-so-short hiatus to celebrate spring break with some winterish conditions and a black and tan or two (one of my editors had to google this, and now I'm sad), the Mailbag is back in action.
Last weekend didn't feel much like spring. If you sat into extra innings at the baseball game Friday night you were probably more than a bit chilly by the time the Red Raiders won their conference opener.
But, we promise, spring is on the way.
With the doldrums of cold weather soon to be in our rearview mirror we've received a couple of questions asking about spring activities, and we thought it would be a great time to point a few things out.
We don't know about you, of course, but for many of us spring is a time for being outside. Whether you like planting gardens, exercising, fishing, golfing, working in the yard or junkin' under the stars (this is a thing, we promise), this break between icicles-on-the-ears cold and bring-a-shirt-for-the-walk-to-work hot is the time to do it.
So, we'd like to offer up a thought – you might even call it a suggestion – about something else you could do this spring.
Texas Tech University's Centennial is well under way, and we've set an ambitious goal of 1 million hours of community service. The good news is we're nearly halfway there. At the start of this week, groups and individuals across our lovely campus have already logged more than 390,000 hours, and we're well on pace to reach and exceed our lofty goal.
But there's no time like spring to get involved, and April offers up two great opportunities.
First off, we've got Tech to Town on Friday, April 14.
We reached out to Jon Mark Bernal, senior associate managing director of Student Union & Activities, to get the scoop on what Tech to Town has to offer.
“We want to invite students, faculty and staff to come out to volunteer,” Bernal said. “The hours can be logged for service and Texas Tech employees can use their engagement outreach hours on their timesheet with approval from their supervisor.”
With Tech to Town, Texas Tech connects with agencies around town – like the parks department, the Children's Advocacy Center or the Community Partners of Lubbock – and we donate our time and energy to help make Lubbock, the city that has housed this university for a century, a better place for everybody.
“It's an opportunity for our campus community to give back to the Lubbock community,” Bernal said.
We really want this to take off this year. With the incentive that this could be a day away from the office or classroom, we don't see why you wouldn't go talk to your supervisor, professors or advisers and get in on the action.
Signup for Tech to Town has to be done by April 6, so get on over to the Student Activities Board site, click the Tech to Town link and let's make this happen.
Arbor Day – always a huge undertaking at Texas Tech – follows closely behind on April 28. Keep in mind that you need to get signed up for Arbor Day by April 7, so time is of the essence in this case as well.
For Arbor Day, we look more inward.
“It's a campus beautification opportunity for everyone to come and give back,” Bernal explained. “We have a lot of student groups that come out and it's a big partnership between us and our grounds maintenance department. We couldn't do this without them.”
Remember, these aren't things you have to do alone. Bring the whole department if you want or come join up with others, we'll all be out there putting flowers in the ground and making our lovely campus even more lovely-er (is that a word?).
And when you're done, just pop in here and walk through the form to log your service hours.
Our goal of 1 million hours of volunteerism and service may be big, but that's how we do it. We go big. And we're counting on the Red Raider community to make it happen.
Let's get after it!
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