This Week @ UCSD
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
Top Stories Print this story Print Forward to a Friend Forward

Students Swap Surfboards for Shovels in Response to Chancellor’s Call to Service
Campus kicks off Volunteer50 initiative at ‘Meet the Beach’ Welcome Week event

Ioana Patringenaru| Sept. 27, 2010

A record 3,000 UC San Diego students were playing sand soccer or beach volleyball, taking surf lessons or simply sunning themselves near the Scripps Pier at La Jolla Shores, as part of Meet the Beach, a popular Welcome Week event held Sept. 25. Then Chancellor Marye Anne Fox came on the public announcement system that had so far been broadcasting songs.

“What a day!” Fox said.

She was there to kick off Volunteer50, an initiative that challenges all students, faculty, staff, alumni and university friends to perform 50 hours of volunteer service from September 2010 through June 2011.

“That service can start right now,” Fox said.

She then invited students to take part in a beach cleanup and beautification project at La Jolla Shores. The cleanup was held in conjunction with International and California Coastal Cleanup Day.  Scripps is where UCSD began, so it’s fitting that Volunteer50 begins here too, Fox said.

“All over the world, people are cleaning up beaches, but we think we have the best one,” she said.

In all, 150 volunteers took up the challenge and lined up to take part in the cleanup. Armed with litter pickers, plastic gloves, shovels, brooms, buckets and rakes, they broke into seven teams to clear off sand from walkways and stairs, do some landscaping and pick up litter all over the beach. Fox and Penny Rue, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, joined in the effort. More than an hour later, volunteers had filled 75 trash bags.

Triton
Members of the UC San Diego community picked up litter, cleaned up sand and did some landscaping.

Chris McCoy, a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt College, cleared sand off a particularly dirty stairwell leading to the beach. "I like UCSD's commitment to service," he said. "We should be nurturers of our Earth and take care of all the beauty we have here."

Jazmin Sanchez had come all the way from Mexico City to help. She is an exchange student at UCSD and studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico back home. "It's a way to give back," she said when asked what made her decide to take part in the cleanup. UCSD and her university in Mexico gave her an amazing opportunity to study in San Diego, she explained.

Triton
By the end of the cleanup, volunteers had filled 75 trash bags.

"Just as UC San Diego has reached out into the community over the last five decades, we know that Volunteer50 will have a positive impact on our community as well," Fox said in a statement. "I hope San Diegans will realize how much we care about our region and our world, and recognize the contributions our students, staff, faculty and alumni make, day in and day out, here in San Diego and beyond."

For Volunteer50, volunteers are asked to log their service hours online by visiting 50th.ucsd.edu and clicking on Volunteer50. On the site, individuals can register for the program, learn about service opportunities, log donated hours and track the cumulative hours for friends and colleagues.

"Our initial goal is to see how fast we can reach 50,000 cumulative hours, then we'll push higher from there," said Fox.

Each month, a service theme will be featured on the Volunteer50 website — such as the environment, education, arts and social justice — and local partner organizations will be featured that fit the month's theme. Volunteers can perform their service at the partnering agencies, at any of the other organizations listed on the website or wherever else they choose.

"This is a way for everyone to be an active part of UC San Diego's 50th Anniversary celebration. Whether you live here or halfway around the world, you can participate in Volunteer50 and make a difference in your community," Fox said.

For more information about UC San Diego's 50th Anniversary and Volunteer50, visit 50th.ucsd.edu



Want to keep up with what is happening at UC San Diego?
Subscribe to This Week @ UCSD. It's free!

spacer
Subscribe Contact Us Got News UCSD News
spacer

UCSD University Communications

9500 Gilman Drive MC0938
La Jolla, CA 92093-0938
858-534-3120

Email: thisweek@ucsd.edu