This week we have Grace Bulger as our campus celebrity! Grace is an exceptionally talented woman who is involved with an organization on campus called Duck Corps, as well as other groups at UO. She is majoring in Public Planning, Policy, and Management with a minor in Art History and is from the beautiful area of Western Springs, Illinois. This girl is involved in an array of different activities and seems to really use her time well here at the University of Oregon.
1. What exactly is Duck Corps?
Duck Corps is a program through the Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement that exists to give University of Oregon students opportunities for sustained service throughout the Eugene and Springfield communities. The program has taken a number of forms in the past few years, and I will be working this year as a Team Lead. There are nine of us Team Leads for the year, and we each have a community partner for which we volunteer on a weekly basis. Our role as a Team Lead is to gather a Service Team that will work with the community partner on a weekly basis as well, which will form lasting and strong bonds with the community. The applications for Service Teams will be open December 28th, and there are a number of different types of teams to get involved with! I encourage anyone looking to get involved on a regular basis with the communities around U of O to apply on the Holden Center website.
2. How did you get involved with this organization?
The Holden Center has a number of programs, which include WILD (Wilderness Institute for Leadership Development) and the Alternative Break programs. I was a participant on the 2014 WILD trip, where we hiked on the Oregon Coast Trail from Bandon to Cape Blanco and discussed leadership, strength-based community views, and ways to best serve our communities. I kept in touch with the individuals I met at the Holden Center through this trip, and found out about Duck Corps through them.
3. Are you a part of any other organizations on campus?
I am a member of the Tau chapter of Alpha Phi and a designer for the Oregon Pit Crew Student Section Blog. Additionally, a number of awesome individuals here at the U of O are working on developing a campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. I am looking forward to working on builds with them as well!
4. What else do you like to do in your free time?
Besides SVU binges with my roommates, I spend a lot of my free time running, reading, and listening to music. I’m a big dad-rock enthusiast, so I spend a good deal of time making Spotify playlists to share with my dad. Also, if it’s between 3:00 and 6:00, there’s a good chance you can find me splitting a happy hour order of cajun tots with Anna Puetz at McMenamins.