In partnership with the International Seakeepers Society (Seakeepers), the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement (SLCE) will host the third annual NSU Pride and Service Day with a beach clean-up of Dania Beach at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park on March 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The event will provide 75 students the opportunity to pick up trash and other pollutant materials from the local beach while learning and interacting with Seakeepers, a marine science, conservation and educational outreach not-for-profit based out of Coral Gables, FL. This is the first time that SLCE has worked with Seakeepers, and they are hoping the relationship will continue in the future.
“We hope that our relationship with Seakeepers and the various other organizations we collaborate with are two fold: one, to open up students lense to [interact] with a new organization and learn something new and two, hope the relationship can be long-standing with our office in the future,” said Concetta D’Alessio, associate director of SLCE.
As a part of SLCE’s mission to empower students with leadership and service-based educational opportunities that promote critical thinking and inspire action, NSU Pride and Service Day was created to cater to these ideals and provide support to students who desire more school spirit based events.
“Students complain that we don’t have a football team or other similar school spirit based events so we really wanted an event that would showcase what we already do, like our monthly service days. But, we wanted something that students can also show their NSU Pride and create a fun event that meets our goal of being educational and service-related,” said D’Alessio.
NSU will provide transportation and lunch to those who attend the event, which is also an opportunity for students involved in registered student organizations to fulfill their SLCE service requirement.
According to Emily Konicki, programming assistant of SLCE, the office hopes this event will become a new NSU tradition that encourages students who don’t have transportation to stay involved in campus activities as well as connect with other NSU students while serving their community.
“We like to bring back service days yearly like the Make a Difference Day in October. We try and connect the student body to engage with each other as well as really giving back [to the local community]. Beach clean-ups are a fun way to incorporate a fun Saturday [spending] time with friends and organizations and [getting] NSU’s name out to the local community. Essentially, it’s a beach day where we can also give back,” said Konicki.
Students interested in participating are encouraged to RSVP on SharkHub.
Photo: H. Rivera
