Nearly 300 students volunteered their time to community service last Saturday in the third annual Pomona Outreach to the World, which included ten different service projects both on and off campus, such as the Children’s Hospital Craft Party and Heal-the-Bay Beach Cleanup. According to Community Affairs Commissioner Janelle Lin ’00, it was the most successful POW! ever.

"[The Community Affairs Committee] wanted to increase volunteerism on campus," Lin said. "We offered a good variety of projects, and we were able to reach a lot of students who had never volunteered."

At the end of the day, students enjoyed the POW! barbecue at Walker Beach and a concert featuring hip-hop artist Common at the Sontag Theater. The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) worked closely with ASPC Senate members as well as other campus organizations in an effort to draw more student participation.

"One significant change was to have each senator take on a different project," Lin explained. "They contacted various organizations on campus to participate, and each organization had a role in coordinating a project."

Projects included the Residence Hall Staff (RHS) held a craft party for Ability First, a crippled children’s society, the Student AIDS Awareness Committee’s food drive for the Foothill AIDS Project, and the Bridge the Gap barbecue for residents of the Indian Hill Rehabilitation Center.

"I think the day went really well," said Junior Class Representative Garrett Miller ’01, who helped coordinate the Heal-the-Bay Cleanup at Venice Beach. "It was exciting to see so many Pomona students willing to get involved."

In addition to POW!, the Volunteer Center organized the Non-profit Career Forum on Friday afternoon to introduce students to careers in the non-profit sector.

"A lot of people volunteer in high school, but they stop when they get to college," Lin said. "But volunteerism doesn’t have to be just a side thing. There’s a future in non-profit work that goes beyond just one-time, sporadic volunteering."

Lin attributes the success of this year’s POW! to the dedication of those who worked on the event in previous years. POW! was created in 1997 by Jessie Berman ’98 and Lena Amanti ’98, who wanted to set aside a day specifically dedicated to community service and outreach. Last year, under the leadership of then Community Affairs Commissioner Anbinh Phan ’01, POW! expanded to about 100 volunteers.

"I’ve worked with POW! for three years, and we’ve always had a vision of what it would be," Phan said. "This year we were able to actualize that vision."

Many at Pomona are discussing ways to implement a community service requirement in the curriculum. Lin, however, opposes this idea and believes that students should not be forced to volunteer.

"The people who volunteered for POW! really enjoyed it," she said. "Volunteerism should be a tradition at Pomona, not a requirement."

"To date, nobody has come forth with a strong case for having a community service requirement," Dean of Students Ann Quinley said. "Plus, it would get complicated because we would have to figure out what the punishment for not fulfilling the requirement would be."

ASPC President Richard ’00 hopes that POW! will become a Senate tradition. "From the beginning community service was a priority, and under the direction of Janelle, I think we did very well. This year, every senator was involved in some way, and I hope the Senate will continue to show the same dedication in the future."