Student enjoy volunteer job fair on Walk

There are more than 95 good reasons to do community service, students at the Annual Volunteer Day Fair on Locust Walk learned yesterday. An unprecedented selection of different non-profit organizations --ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the West Philadelphia Partnership--were recruiting student volunteers on campus, said fair coordinator and Program for Student Community Involvement Secretary Yanina Carter. "The fair tripled in size this year," she said. "The response has been really tremendous." The fair seemed to offer something for everyone. For College junior Safiya Walker, tutoring West Philadelphia schoolchildren is a way she is able to "give back" to her community. "It's important to give back to the community because everyone isn't as privileged," she said. "We aren't any better than they are because we've had more opportunities." College sophomore Guy Lin is also volunteering his time -- but to a very different community. As a participant in the newly founded, Hillel-sponsored Adopt A Grandparent program, Lin will visit elderly Jewish people living in a residential section of South Philadelphia. "You learn something about yourself," he said. "You make use of your time by helping others." College junior David Cohen has not volunteered since he was in high school. Now, he wants to make a difference by playing sports with children for the Police Athletic League. "I haven't done community service in a few years because I've been thinking about myself, and what I'm doing here," he said. "Now, I want to help." Engineering junior Chinsol Choe said she wants to either help the homeless, or work in a women's shelter. "I get a sense of gratification by helping others," she said. "I always helped out in my high school." Both upperclassmen and freshmen alike said they were excited for a chance to perform community service. "Part of the reason I came to the University of Pennsylvania was because of the community service," said College freshman David Forlander, who participated in the Penn Corps volunteer program before classes began. "With Penn Corps, I grew attached to the different services I'd done," he added. College senior Gillian Silver, who works in PSCI as an intern, said the Fair was geared towards making incoming students aware of community service opportunities, as a follow-up to the "Into the Streets" community service program held last weekend for freshmen. "One of the goals [of the Fair] is to reinforce the idea of community service started with 'Into the Streets'," she said. "There are so many resources at Penn that it would be a shame not to take advantage of them."

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