Students at the University of Wisconsin are involved in a multitude of extracurricular activities separate from the daily grind of college, including the growing trend of helping others and giving up a part of one’s time for volunteering.

In an undergraduate survey conducted in 2000, 37 percent of students on campus said they participated in volunteer activities.

Ann Dingman, of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, where students can go to seek volunteer positions in the area, said they are affiliated with more than 300 Dane County schools and community organizations.

“The college students who volunteer not only contribute to the community and build their resumes, they get to go out beyond campus and experience the whole wonderful city,” Dingman said. “Many students live here and never go beyond State Street,” she added.

The Morgridge Center for Public Service has more than 590 UW faculty and students registered in their database of volunteers, according to Dingman.

Dingman said most UW students look for volunteering that involves youth, more specifically, tutoring. She said tutoring is the most common activity students participate in.

Many students look to volunteering as a resume builder, but for some, like sophomore Carman Nelson, helping other people gives a “worldly, feel-good experience.”

Nelson is part of the Community Service Mission Support Staff for Chadbourne Residence Hall.

“I did a lot of volunteering in high school, and when I got here last year, I became more interested, so this year I applied for this job.”

Nelson, along with students living in the Chadbourne Residence Hall, organized two blood drives, a Halloween Carnival and raised $1,000 in a coin drive for Camp Heartland, an organization for children with HIV and AIDS.

“Volunteering is a great experience,” Nelson said, “It helps me with time management and allows me to obtain a greater understanding of Madison and the people who live here.”

Nelson urged other students to get involved with volunteering.

“There is an organization fit for every person on campus as long as they take the time to find it,” she said. “Volunteering makes you feel so good.”

Although many people feel volunteering has been a wonderful addition to their campus lives, there are others who have not participated in voluntary activities.

“I have very limited time since I have gotten to school, and I would rather do something I enjoy in the small amount of spare time that I have,” UW freshman Rich Kates said.

“I don’t really enjoy volunteering,” he said.

Emily Gerger, another freshman student, gave extensive amounts of her time to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in her hometown of Houston, Texas. Currently she has put her volunteering efforts on hold.

“First semester I did a small amount of volunteering for an elementary school in Middleton, but I did not get the satisfaction out of that volunteer job that I did at M.D. Anderson.”

Gerger explained how her work at M.D. Anderson gave her a new perspective on life.

“I am able to enjoy and value it more,” she said. “I hope to find an organization here in Madison as fulfilling as M.D. Anderson was for me.”