American University and MyImpact.org Teaming Up to Showcase Service

One of the biggest demographics (along with Boomers) that will power the service movement over the next decade is young people. Here's just one example: this year, more than 650 freshmen – the largest number ever – will be participating in American University’s Freshman Service Experience.

What is the Freshman Service Experience? Here’s what American University's website has to say about their service program:

The Freshman Service Experience is a four-day program built on community service, academic changes, leadership development, and orientation to American University and Washington, D.C. During the day, student-led volunteer groups work at about 40 different nonprofit work sites throughout the city. In the evenings, participants meet with faculty, alumni, deans, community leaders, and policy makers to discuss how the work they have done in the community relates to the academic challenges that lie ahead…AU takes pride in being a private university with a public responsibility and emphasizes making use of Washington's varied resources. FSE introduces first-year students to this tradition.

Myimpact.org, which was started by two superstar ServiceNation Young Leaders, Chris Golden and Nick Troiano, is working with these incoming college students as a part of the United We Serve initiative to record their experiences and share the importance of the lessons learned as they work at over 40 different nonprofit and service organizations throughout the Washington, DC community.

And, lest you think AU’s the only college with a service orientation program, here are a few others that are working to serve their communities: Harvard’s Freshmen Urban Program, St. Michael’s College TREK Community Service Orientation Program, Kenyon College’s Pre-orientation Service Program, Skidmore College’s Volunteer Program and Earlham College’s Pre-orientation Service Corps.

While many colleges and universities have service programs, the really cool thing about AU’s program is the way they’re working with myImpact to record it all. By showcasing their experiences, they are sharing the importance of service with the world and allowing others to see how meaningful it can be to serve.

Interested in learning more about myImpact.org’s work with United We Serve? Check out their blog here or visit the website for more details. Find out more about AU’s Freshmen Service Experience or watch a few videos and see what they did on their first day of orientation.

Here are a few photos of the Day 1 events, courtesy of myImpact.org: