Students sacrifice time to volunteer
Mark Powell
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News
"I'm just overwhelmed," Navarette said about the number of SJSU volunteers. "We're encouraging people to make the park cleaner and safer for families that may come to this park."
Along with Associated Students and Delta Upsilon, representatives from City Year, AmeriCorps, SJSU's health department, and Greek organizations Alpha Phi Omega and Alpha Omicron Pi were among volunteer groups working at Olinder from about 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For some who volunteered, there were plenty of interesting items found while tidying up the park.
Kelli Moon, a junior majoring in graphic design, said she found pornographic magazines, empty liquor bottles, condoms and even a homeless man who she said appeared to live next to a creek that runs behind the park.
"Bums are having safe sex, so that's good to know," Moon said.
Ryan Liu, a freshman majoring in criminal justice, also said he saw a homeless man near the same creek.
"I just let him be," Liu said. "He wasn't disturbing nature."
Moon said that student volunteers were advised not to venture too far towards the creek because students could get sick from being exposed to it or from falling in.
"People said we might get diseases from the creek," Moon said.
Cheryl Vargas, executive director of A.S., said she found "perfectly good" Easter eggs still with chocolate inside them, a hubcap and more empty liquor bottles.
"I haven't decided whether I'm going to eat the eggs or not," Vargas said, adding that she was only kidding.
Some Day of Service volunteers said they passed up a day's worth of pay at their local jobs to help out with the Olinder clean up.
Mory Chomm, a junior majoring in health science, said she asked for the day off from the Spartan Bookstore, SJSU's on-campus bookstore.
"It's not busy on Friday," Chomm said.
Fellow junior health science major Jason Gubuan said he requested April 20 off four weeks in advance to participate in Day of Service.
"I just thought that it was an important thing to do," said Gubuan, who is a senior teller at the Blossom Hill branch of Bank of America.
Current A.S. President Alberto Gutierrez volunteered at Olinder and said he was actually surprised at how many students and staff had signed up for Day of Service.
"In my opinion, that's a really high turnout," Gutierrez said. "That's more people that just about any event that happens at SJSU."
Along with Associated Students and Delta Upsilon, representatives from City Year, AmeriCorps, SJSU's health department, and Greek organizations Alpha Phi Omega and Alpha Omicron Pi were among volunteer groups working at Olinder from about 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For some who volunteered, there were plenty of interesting items found while tidying up the park.
Kelli Moon, a junior majoring in graphic design, said she found pornographic magazines, empty liquor bottles, condoms and even a homeless man who she said appeared to live next to a creek that runs behind the park.
"Bums are having safe sex, so that's good to know," Moon said.
Ryan Liu, a freshman majoring in criminal justice, also said he saw a homeless man near the same creek.
"I just let him be," Liu said. "He wasn't disturbing nature."
Moon said that student volunteers were advised not to venture too far towards the creek because students could get sick from being exposed to it or from falling in.
"People said we might get diseases from the creek," Moon said.
Cheryl Vargas, executive director of A.S., said she found "perfectly good" Easter eggs still with chocolate inside them, a hubcap and more empty liquor bottles.
"I haven't decided whether I'm going to eat the eggs or not," Vargas said, adding that she was only kidding.
Some Day of Service volunteers said they passed up a day's worth of pay at their local jobs to help out with the Olinder clean up.
Mory Chomm, a junior majoring in health science, said she asked for the day off from the Spartan Bookstore, SJSU's on-campus bookstore.
"It's not busy on Friday," Chomm said.
Fellow junior health science major Jason Gubuan said he requested April 20 off four weeks in advance to participate in Day of Service.
"I just thought that it was an important thing to do," said Gubuan, who is a senior teller at the Blossom Hill branch of Bank of America.
Current A.S. President Alberto Gutierrez volunteered at Olinder and said he was actually surprised at how many students and staff had signed up for Day of Service.
"In my opinion, that's a really high turnout," Gutierrez said. "That's more people that just about any event that happens at SJSU."
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