Dec 21 2012

NYIT Community Service Center Looks Back At Fall 2012

By Marty Magaan

It's been quite an eventful semester. Between the presidential elections and the unprecedented storm that knocked the lights out of the city that never sleeps, the past few months have left us with a lot to look back on. As a staff member of the Community Service Center, I was privileged enough to have been involved in several of the events that took place this semester. To celebrate the end of the first half of this school year, let's take a look at what the Community Service Center accomplished during the Fall 2012 semester:


NYIT Gets Civically Engaged

In the months leading to the election, the Community Service Center took action by spreading awareness on each candidate's stance on important issues and registering students and staff to vote. The CSC also held a Voter Registration event where we screened a short film about voting and invited a guest speaker to talk to students about the importance of voting. With help from the NYIT community, the CSC's in Old Westbury and Manhattan were able to register 510 people to vote. NYIT students and staff also gathered together for the first ever Campus Conversations where they discussed important global and domestic issues going on in the world. In the month before the election, NYIT aired the presidential elections on campus and had strong turn outs from the NYIT community.

Constitution Day

In honor of Constitution Day, the CSC went out to see how much NYIT students and staff knew about the U.S. Constitution by setting up a question wheel in the main lobby and giving out prizes to students who answered questions correctly. Students were also given Constitution handbooks so that they could brush up on their knowledge of the Constitution or educate themselves for the first time. If you missed out on all the action, you can learn about the Constitution here:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html


NYIT Day of Service

On NYIT's Day of Service, groups of NYIT students, led by CSC staff members, volunteered at different locations in New York City to do park clean up and build mountain bike trails.


Diversity Day

The CSC, in collaboration with ISA and ROOTS, hosted a Diversity Event which featured performances by students, a short film made by the CSC, and a buffet with food from different cultural backgrounds.


Sandy Relief

In the aftermath of the hurricane, the CSC helped organize NYIT's hurricane relief efforts. On multiple occasions, groups of NYIT students volunteered with Occupy Sandy to help those who were affected by the hurricane.

And of course...
The Community Service Center helped 220 students find places to volunteer this semester!