Day of Service

By: Kyle Hansen

Posted: 4/23/07

Having one arm in a sling didn't stop Eric Groza from showing up to help work during San Jose State University's first Day of Service on Friday.

"I just broke my wrist last night," Groza said, "but I am still here."

"This arm," he said while raising his left hand, "is still good and I'm ready to go."

Groza was one of more than 800 SJSU students, faculty and staff that showed up to help with service projects throughout downtown San Jose despite the threat of rainy weather.

The rain held off as volunteers painted houses, cleaned parks, picked up trash and did other projects for about four hours before returning to the Student Union for food and entertainment.

The day of service's theme was "Getting things done together," and it was a joint project of the university, the city of San Jose and CommUniveriCity San Jose.

University President Don Kassing and others expressed that it is important for students to get out in the community and be involved in improving the city.

"It is very important because of where we are located in the heart of the city," Kassing said.

"There are a number of people in different settings," Kassing told the volunteers at the end of the day, "watching you today convinced that you are the next great generation."

Students involved in the activities said that they came to help the community.

"Personally, I did not grow up in the best neighborhood either," said Kevin Silveira, an undeclared sophomore who came to the event with some of his coworkers from the Career Center.

"It is cool to come and help," he said. "It feels good."

Jia Broussard, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said that it was beneficial to her to come out and help.

"You learn about different people," she said, "and it gets you out of your comfort zone. You get to see things from a different perspective.

"You also get to know the resources around you in the city," Broussard said. "It is just a big community - you need to be connected to it in some way."

Groups from across the campus came together to help out for the day. Groza, who is the president of Sigma Chi, said each fraternity and sorority on campus committed to bring half of their members to the event.

"We made it a big thing to try and get the whole Greek system involved for the day," he said, adding that 20 of the 35 members of his fraternity were present. "We are trying to change the image of the Greeks and have been doing a lot of service and philanthropy.

Because of the rainy weather, some of the planned events had to be postponed. Volunteers were still able to do some of the house painting projects, but plans to paint murals at elementary schools and at the Spartan Market had to be delayed until May 5.

Curtis Chung, a senior majoring in kinesiology, said he enjoyed painting the trim of a house.

"It is a great time to spend with your buddies and doing community service for those who need it," he said.

Fellow painter Tiffany Tyson, a sophomore majoring in communications, came with some other students from the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center.

"It is cool that we can come together and work as a team to do community service," she said.

The coordinator for the painting project Tyson and Chung said that the main part of the house had to be painted by professionals because of the old led paint that had to be removed first. The volunteers were able to paint the trim around the doors and windows.

"It is nice to get involved in the community and help locals," said coordinator Amy Krauser, a sophomore majoring in radio, television and film. "The university is a big part of San Jose."