SLICE involves students in community, global outreach
By Akemi Kunugi, May 2009
Graphics Editor
Going above and beyond what is expected of traditional college students, a select few of Paradise Valley Community College and Glendale Community College students choose to volunteer to better their communities.
The acronym SLICE stands for Serve, Learn, Inspire, Change and Educate. It is a program for students “who want to change their world,” says Paula Vaughn, director of service learning at PVCC.
By taking a class and participating in service learning projects on weekends, students learn to raise awareness of global issues, learn about positive social change and team building as well as earn credit.
In addition, SLICE participants must take HUM190DEF and pass a list of requirements to be eligible for their spring break service learning trip to San Diego.
Ana Chandler, PVCC environment leader for SLICE, works with Stand Up For Kids, a human outreach program to get kids off the streets.
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Photo by Brandi Beaulieu
The Immigration Team on SLICE works with immigration issues. In front are Gozi Ibeji, Crystal Soucy, Feven Surafel, and standing behind are Morgan Baugus, Damon Cetro, Nick Heffernan, Isreal Montero, Katy Lockhart and Aaron Lescarbeau.
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“It’s a good opportunity to realize social change, to help the community and to see what’s really going on, not just in politics, but also in the world,” Chandler says.
Shaun Yingling, kids and family leader for SLICE, has been volunteering since he was 16. First working with the Boys and Girls Club and various after school programs with the City of Peoria and Surprise, he believes that issues need to be brought up so that people can understand what’s going on and do something about them.
He currently works with New Leaf, a shelter for domestic violence victims.
“I decided that domestic violence was a big issue,” he says. “I love helping out.”
Yingling helps to make lunch and bonds with the children by talking to them and believes that the volunteer work he does helps to make him more mature.
Immigration team leader, Morgan Baugus, finds volunteering rewarding and useful for networking.
“I need to do this; I need to get myself out there,” she says.
Baugus is involved with HandsOn Greater Phoenix, which empowers people to become engaged in their communities. HandsOn Greater Phoenix serves as a liaison for people who want to volunteer, according to the HandsOn Greater Phoenix Web site. They connect more than 14,000 people annually and contribute more than 50,000 hours of service each year.
While the SLICE program is a great way to get involved in the community with help from PVCC, some students like Ramzi Yatim are inspired by other organizations like Invisible Children.
Invisible Children is a group dedicated to ending the 23 year war in Africa involving the government of Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army rebel group who abducts children to fight in the war and murders countless others, according to the Invisible Children Web site.
“The organization spreads awareness about the situation in Northern Uganda and tries to rally as many people as they can to push our government to help end the war,” Yatim says.
Invisible Children is put together by individuals no older than 30, Yatim says. “Invisible Children runs because of people like me who keep spreading the word. It’s an incredible organization to help… I am amazed at what the youth of America has done with it.”
Yatim helps in any way that he can, encouraged by the progress the group has made in the two years that he has been working with it. By calling people and getting the message out to as many as he can, his crucial goal is to encourage individuals to attend The Rescue event on April 25 at ASU where they will “abduct” themselves and sleep at ASU, representing the child soldiers abducted by the war in Africa.
“I volunteer because I feel that this is my calling in life,” says Yatim. “This is what I want to do with it. People need my help. People I will never see or ever meet, and I feel obligated to help them. I refuse to be part of a generation that let another holocaust happen.”
For more information or to get involved with Invisible Children, visit invisiblechildren.com.
Dozens of students are making a difference in their communities by getting active. For more information, contact the Service Learning office in KSC151A or visit the service learning Web site at http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~servlearn/.
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