BYUSA Hosts Awareness Week to Honor Officers

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    By Karianne Salisbury

    Although the student body at BYU may never know specifically who is responsible for planning a certain campus event or dance, many students in the BYUSA office continue to volunteer time and energy to make these things happen.

    This week has been named BYUSA Awareness Week to give recognition to officers and volunteers and to invite others to get involved. Open houses for interested students will take place Thursday and Friday, Feb. 23-24, 2006, to share information about diverse experiences that are available. These will be at 4 p.m. on both days in 3211 WSC.

    BYUSA is divided into four main areas, all of which are open to volunteers. While some students have a specific interest, others try their hand in one or all of the areas, which include campus activities, clubs, public relations and student advisory council.

    Students of all ages and in all majors find opportunities for themselves within the walls of the BYUSA offices.

    “At BYUSA there”s the opportunity to be involved in as much or as little as you like,” said Jenna Andersen, a recreation management youth leadership major.

    For Andersen, being able to plan campus events gives her experience for her future career as an event planner.

    “I”m doing what I want to be doing for the rest of my life,” said Andersen, who is currently planning Spring Preference in March.

    Students have found various ways to put their interest and talents to use. The level of involvement in any area of BYUSA can range from helping only on the day of an event, being a member of a planning committee or acting as a program or event director.

    Jason Black, a freshman from Livermore, Calif., started his BYUSA involvement as an event leader for this year”s annual concert series with artists Jon Schmidt and Greg Simpson.

    “I never imagined I”d be doing this when I came to BYU,” Black said.

    While Black may not have expected himself to be volunteering with BYUSA, other students have always wanted to be involved in the program.

    “I came [to BYU] with the mindset that I wanted to be involved wherever I went to school,”

    said Mike Squires, a freshman from Murray.

    Squires, who served as his senior class president, took the initiative and went into the BYUSA office during his first week of school last fall to see if there was anything he could help out with.

    Most volunteers would agree BYUSA is a unique organization. Squires compared it to what he knows about student associations at his high school and the University of Utah, where he said there are more elected positions. At BYU, only the president and vice president of the student service association are elected while the other officer positions are filled through an application process.

    “More people can just sign up and serve and it”s less of a popularity contest,” Squires said.

    BYUSA is a service organization where students serve students. As a result, everything coming out of it has an intended focus on serving the student body at BYU. This includes offering campus dances or events or focusing on rising issues of concern. The Student Advisory Council focuses on these issues and conducts research to find what can be done about it.

    “Student Advisory Council is the part of BYU that gets the students” opinion of a better lifestyle for students,” said Thomas Risner, a senior who participated on the council last fall.

    Various volunteers who share their time and talents said they are involved because of a desire to give back to their school, to meet new people and to make things happen.

    “It”s not just there to have a leadership group,” Black said. “There”s a lot of people putting in a lot of time to make things happen.”

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