Taking Service to the Residence Halls (Service) by Sarah Kovalesky

                Service has always been a very large part of my life ever since I was a Girl Scout starting in the second grade, continuing until high school graduation. Alpha Phi Omega has given me the opportunity to continue my love for service in a new capacity and learning a lot about what it means to serve. Now, I have taken what I have learned and brought it into the residence halls.

                This semester I am working for residence life in a new position as part of a pilot-gram in first-year living, called Polaris. There are two goals of the program – academic success and civic engagement. The latter meaning or rather focuses on community service and leadership - which just happens to be two of our cardinal principles in APO. I have been able to take what I have learned about service and leadership and be a resource to first year students in the building that I work. Whether it has been through the promotion of service, the importance of service and even planning my own service projects within the residence halls; it has been incredible to see these first-year students take on service and leadership and see them grow because of it.