The 28 student volunteers and their faculty advisor, Jami Carlson, admissions counselor, volunteered at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Living Lands and Waters.
St. Jude Children’s research hospital is a leading pediatric cancer research and treatment center where patients and families are never billed for treatment, housing, food or transportation.
“I thought it was a wonderful experience that helped me as a person to be more open and getting to experience something that I never thought I would do in college,” said Cynthia Navarro-Becerra, Aurora, Colo., freshman. “I love that moment since I got to help this little girl color in a coloring book. She was a patient with cancer. I thought it was nice just spending time with her and getting to know her more.”
Jeina Stoumbaugh, Westminster, Colo., junior, echoed Navarro-Becerra’s feelings.
Volunteers spent time with patients doing arts and crafts projects, playing board games and coordinating a scavenger hunt.
“I’ll never forget being in the Target house and my group was playing a scavenger hunt,” she said. “The clue was to go to the place where dreams come true (the DreamWorks room at the facility), and a kid responded with St. Jude being the place where dreams come true. The biggest smile came to my face hearing how our work makes these kids’ dream come true.”
Volunteers also volunteered with Living Lands and Waters and picked up garbage from the shores of the Mississippi River in Western Memphis.
Living Lands and Waters is an organization that aims to “aid in the protection, preservation and restoration of the natural environment of the nation’s major rivers and their watersheds.”