With Rhodes College as the #1 School for Do-Gooders in mind, my campus celebrity of the week is a perfect example of these “do-gooder” students, who all together set our school apart from the rest. Meet Justin Deere, a Junior Bonner Scholar from Sikeston, Missouri. I asked Justin to share some of his experiences with community service throughout Rhodes and Memphis…
Were you involved with community service in high school? How did you become involved with volunteer work at Rhodes? And how has your experience affected you?
I got involved in volunteer work at Rhodes initially through the Bonner Scholarship (a service scholarship aimed at giving students scholarships enabling them to do service in the community. There are 24 total Bonner Scholar schools, and Rhodes has approximately 60 Bonner Scholars.)
Though passionate about service in high school, things took on a whole new meaning when I came to Rhodes. During my time at Rhodes, working with the community has done more for me as a student and person than I could say. Constantly reminding me that we’re all small pieces to a big puzzle, serving the community has helped to put an invaluable perspective on life’s opportunities. I think some of the biggest impacts have been a fostered desire to help others and realization that it’s easy to take things for granted.
What are some of the programs you are involved with in Memphis? How do you help the organizations as a volunteer?
Two organizations that I am currently involved with are Project Green Fork and More Than Art. Project Green Fork is a local non-profit founded here in Memphis that helps restaurants become environmentally sustainable. I worked as a “business intern” during the summer with the Rhodes Summer Service Fellowship and was lucky to be able to get involved in all facets of the organization. I was able to do everything from working with excel sheets to attending meetings with potential grant organizations to designing a social media fundraisers to developing recycling programs at restaurants like Huey’s.
More Than Art is a student-led program held at Idlewild Presbyterian Church that focuses on empowerment through artistic expression. We facilitate artistic endeavors with persons who usually would not be able to do so otherwise. Working often with people experiencing homelessness, it is a great way make personal connections and friendships. I am pretty sure I would be correct in saying that I’ve learned more from the folks at MTA than I could ever give in return.
What has been the most memorable experience you have had with volunteering in Memphis?
It’s hard to say the most memorable, but I’d say it was the Unsheltered: Unseen project last semester.
Can you explain what that project was all about? How did you come up with the idea? How did you set it up? And what was the outcome of the project?
Unsheltered:Unseen is a project based on sharing unique perspectives of Memphis. The idea was formulated sometime last December as the City of Memphis was passing new legislation affecting people experiencing homelessness in Midtown and Downtown. I was reading news articles and realized that among all this talk about policies affecting this segment of our population, there wasn’t consideration from the population’s perspective. I thought about it and figured one way to gain perspectives from unseen sources was to get cameras in the hands of the Memphis public.
I received funding from Idlewild Presbyterian Church for the cameras and applied for the CODA grant here at Rhodes. I got the grant and things rolled from then on. The outcome was a great success. We were able to gather awesome perspectives on Memphis and life, all while empowering both artist and audience by stepping into one another’s shoes. The photos were sold, and all the money went back to Hunger and Homelessness ministries in Memphis.
Do you plan on continuing to work in volunteer services after you graduate? If so, what would you like to continue doing?
I’m not sure about life after graduation, but the non-profit world is a definite possibility. If I did decide to follow that route, I’d probably like to a M.B.A. and help non-profits from a business standpoint.
What are your thoughts on Rhodes’ newest achievement of #1 school for do-gooders?
I think Rhodes achievement is awesome. It was so great to see our community put in the spotlight for all of our hard work to help those around us. I thought it was great that the award spoke not just to hands on volunteering during a students years at Rhodes but also those who serve in our military and other post-graduate programs like the PeaceCorps and Teach for America.
Any other comments on community service and Rhodes students?
Anything else I’d say is just to encourage everyone to try and explore and get involved throughout the community. Hopefully it could be just as rewarding for the community and you as it has been for me.
Justin looks forward the doing a Part 2 of the Unsheltered:Unseen project, so stay tuned for more details about how to get involved!