One BYU student is embracing the spirit of service and finding fulfillment from inside the heart of BYU’s Y-Serve.
Cameron van Batum works as an office assistant in the Y-Serve office located in the Wilkinson Student Center. There, she schedules meetings, writes the weekly newsletter and helps students find service opportunities.
“There are almost 70 different programs of things you can do, so it's really cool helping students find something that works for them,” van Batum said.
Van Batum is one of the first faces people see when they enter the door and she has a gift for making people feel welcome, said Chris Crippen, director of Y-Serve.
“People are drawn to talk to her,” Crippen said. “She has a very welcoming countenance.”
Van Batum’s journey to her position at Y-Serve began in Arizona where she was serving as a missionary. While there, she suffered from intense back pain and eventually transitioned to a service mission.
That decision did not come without challenges, but it helped her grow immensely, she said.
“Being in that season of my life where I was in so much pain, but was being asked to serve every day was really refining,” van Batum said.
After her mission, van Batum moved to BYU where she was intent on continuing her habit of service, she said.
Van Batum found STDEV 290, Learning Through Service, and took the class with her former mission companion, Abigail Braun.
“She was like, ‘I think that this would be a really great idea, and we can learn a lot about service and different aspects of it,’” Braun said.
The class not only kept van Batum’s desire to serve alive but also opened the door to new opportunities.
A few weeks later, van Batum found a job opening at Y-Serve as an office assistant. She felt God guiding her through the process, she said.
“It was all very fast,” van Batum said, “and was just one of those moments where you can really tell that God is guiding you.”
Since working in the office, van Batum said her perceptions of service have changed and the students inspire her.
“It’s just so inspiring that students feel like they have a higher capacity to serve in different ways,” van Batum said.
Crippen said that van Batum regularly takes part in Y-Serve activities outside of her job.
“She chooses to volunteer in many of our programs, which is just so cool,” Crippen said.
Van Batum said one of her favorite Y-Serve program is Sports Hero Day, when local sixth graders get to meet BYU athletes. She remembers helping a young girl learn how to do a cartwheel.
“I had just told her, ‘There's nothing that you can't learn, and you can do a cartwheel if you try to learn it,’” van Batum said. “She looked at me, gave me the biggest hug and then ran off and tried to do a cartwheel.”
Van Batum urged students not to let time restraints discourage them from serving others.
“You don't have to be perfect to do a good job or to make a difference,” van Batum said.
The small things shape who you are, van Batum said, and she hopes to continue to learn about service throughout her time at BYU.
“I want to learn how to be the best instrument that I can be to provide service that helps people and to grow my skills and capacity to make service an integral part of my life and who I am,” van Batum said.