Freshman year move-in day is typically a time of chaos and high emotions, but I didn’t have that. Instead of a traditional move-in day I attended a pre-orientation program called SPLASH. This entailed moving in six days before all the other freshman (minus the fall athletes). SPLASH stands for: Students Promoting Leadership, Awareness, and Service through Humanitarian efforts.
I’m so glad I chose to participate in SPLASH. During this program, I not only met some of my future classmates and explored campus, but I also got to help make a difference in the community that I would soon be a part of. The goal of SPLASH was to grow as leaders and people. Over the course of those six days, I believe I achieved that goal. Following the social change model, we had group discussions about our work each day. This was, of course, facilitated by our mentors. Each year former members of SPLASH come back and work as mentors to the new group of students. They told us about their experiences in the program as we shared ours.
The largest aspect of SPLASH was, of course, the service work that we completed. My personal favorite was volunteering at Haven Ministries. While there we sorted the food donations that they received to make sure that the food was still suitable for consumption. I loved knowing that the work I was doing made a difference and getting to learn more about their shelter made the experience one that I will always remember. On other days we worked in the campus garden, brought donations to Downtown Daily Bread, volunteered at HandUp, attended information sessions, and much more.
Moving into college early and participating in SPLASH is a decision that I will never regret. Service is a part of my life that I have always held dear so learning about how I can continue to serve in College was very important to me. The best part of my experience, becoming an involved member of the community before the school year even started.