How to serve was their first Carolina lesson

As a high school senior, Russell Rockacy defined “service” this way in his UNC-Chapel Hill application: “Using your skills to make a difference but also having a good time while you’re doing it.”

That definition sums up the start to Rockacy’s time at Carolina. The first-year student from Pittsburgh, along with 15 other new Tar Heels, came to campus early to participate in the Service-Learning Initiative, run through the Carolina Center for Public Service’s APPLES program.

SLI, held Aug. 13-15, introduced the University’s newest students to service opportunities on campus and in the surrounding community while also providing a built-in friend group at the start of their college careers.

“Service does not have a concrete, simplified definition,” said senior Ernest Johnson, who enjoyed SLI so much in 2022 that he’s stuck around since, this year serving as a co-leader. “You can serve through a myriad of ways.”

This year’s participants backed that up, completing all types of service before meeting their roommates, going to FallFest or attending their first college class.

Rockacy was part of a group that removed invasive plant species from Chapel Hill greenways. First-year student Sean Lane from Mocksville, North Carolina, learned about the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill at the Marian Cheek Jackson Center and passed out informational doorhangers around the Northside neighborhood.

Others like Cameron Ayscue from Clayton, North Carolina, went to the Carolina Community Garden and harvested vegetables for University employees and helped organize books at the Durham Scrap Exchange, as did Kevin Noble from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Additional stops included the Campus Y, the American Indian Cultural Garden and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

“I think this program opens them up to different things that they might not have known existed,” said Shayla Zwingman, program co-leader and a psychology and sociology major. “The idea is that they may not know that the Jackson Center exists because it’s off campus, but a lot of students end up volunteering.”

(Clockwise, from top left) SLI participants volunteered with Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation to remove debris and invasive plant species; visited the Marian Cheek Jackson Center and volunteered in the Northside neighborhood; removed weeds at the American Indian Cultural Garden; and assembled furniture at the Campus Y. (Submitted photos)

Take Zwingman’s co-leader, for instance. Johnson, a nutrition major, had hardly picked up a garden shovel before 2022 but has been putting his gloves on and working at the Carolina Community Garden almost every Sunday for the past three school years.

For some of this year’s participants, the stops affirmed their vocational interests or convinced them to return as a volunteer later.

For example, Ayscue currently envisions a career in social work. When she visited and volunteered at the Campus Y, she met with a social worker, making her more excited about the field. Noble also said he’s likely to return to the Jackson Center, where he could participate in activities related to the University’s Good Neighbor Initiative or help with the organization’s Heavenly Groceries food pantry.

“I hope the students leave here and want to take initiative with the things that we’ve learned,” Zwingman said.

That was the case for sophomore Cal Stoke, a 2024 participant who later completed an alternative spring break in western North Carolina to assist in Helene recovery and was a section leader at this year’s SLI.

SLI participants met with Chancellor Lee H. Roberts. Said SLI co-leader Ernest Johnson (far right): “Outside orientation, we are (new students’) first real Carolina experience. We want to make that experience as strong and as happy as possible.” (Submitted photo)

Many participants learned about SLI at New Student Orientation this summer.

All are glad to have kicked off their Carolina experience early. Now their leaders hope they spread the word about service at Carolina and all the forms it comes in.

“It’s buzzing on campus for the first couple of weeks as students are getting to know each other,” Zwingman said. “‘What did you do today?’ ‘Oh, I helped garden. Oh, I cut down weeds here. Oh, I went to the Jackson Center and delivered newspapers.’ Other students are really interested in that because they don’t know what’s going on.”