For Natalie Magnus, program coordinator for the University of Idaho’s Volunteer Center, Saturday is her favorite day of the entire year.
Saturday is both Palousafest and the annual Serving Your New Community (SYNC) program — two big events for the Volunteer Center. Each year members of the Volunteer Center prepare for between 1,000 and 1,100 new UI students to participate in SYNC. The two events kick off the students’ experience at UI, said Program Coordinator for the Volunteer Center Natalie Magnus.
Cailin Bary, summer student coordinator for the Volunteer Center, has been working on SYNC since May. For her, all the work she has done during the summer leads up to this event, but the payoff is worth it, she said.
“It’s an opportunity to facilitate connections between students and their community,” Bary said.
A lot of man power is required to put on the event each year, Bary said. Between 80-100 people work to run SYNC, not including the new student volunteers and representatives at the work sites.
New students living in the residence halls are encouraged to participate in SYNC, but Bary said a reliable showing of volunteers comes from UI’s Greek community, which requires new members to participate.
“We count on a good portion of volunteers coming from the Greek community,” she said.
Though the timing of SYNC caters to new students, Magnus said any and all students can volunteer. In fact, she encouraged other students to be a part of the event. She said she appreciates the fact that UI President Chuck Staben, Mary Beth Staben, Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert and UI Provost and Executive Vice President John Wiencek make it a point to participate in the event as well.
“We are all a part of this greater community,” Magnus said.
Not much has changed about the event this time around compared to previous years, but Bary said the Volunteer Center always tries to be creative with what places they send students to volunteer each time. Magnus said SYNC reaches out to places in surrounding areas including Pullman, Genesee and Lewiston. Some areas need Vandals to come volunteer every year, but sometimes they don’t, and that gives people like Magnus and Bary a chance to think of new opportunities to expand UI’s impact.
It astonishes Magnus to see every year how much work is accomplished in just a few hours. At 8 a.m. before SYNC begins, there is so much work that needs to be done across the Palouse, and by 3:30 p.m. so much has been completed and improved, Magnus said.
“It’s easy to underestimate the impact one individual can have,” Bary said.
Bary said the purpose of SYNC is to get new students comfortable and familiar with their community while also giving them a chance to serve the area they are now a part of. She said she hopes the new students can find friends through the event as well, and that they become aware of the Volunteer Center at UI. Magnus said SYNC embodies the mission of her department.
“Giving back to the community is part of what being a Vandal is,” Magnus said.
Erin Bamer
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