story by Lucy Whittaker

The Service Fair was a chance for juniors to explore different organizations for their service fair project and was held Sept. 30.

Campus ministry director Meredith Snyder was the moderator for the fair for the third year in a row.

“It’s part of the junior/senior service project and its only for juniors so they go as part of the process of selecting their agency for the [service] project,” Snyder said.

St. Teresa’s partners with around 50 different agencies in total, and about half of the agencies attended the fair.

“We hope to get a good mix of different types of organizations so if the student wants to do certain work, maybe that specific organization won’t be there but they could ask general questions about that field,” Snyder said.

The hope of the service fair is that it was helpful to juniors to pick an organization that they will enjoy while still being of service.

“Yeah, I think it will be helpful because I don’t really know where I want to go yet and this will help me narrow my focus,” junior Camille Goodwin said.

Snyder thinks that the fair is successful because it was during the student’s schedule and helps make it a priority.

“Students are so busy and there’s a lot of different agencies that we partner with so this gives them an opportunity to come and explore what’s out there in a way that is already built into their schedule during the school day,” Snyder said.

photos by Riley McNett

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Snyder also warns against how competitive the process can sometimes seem.

“Oh yeah, I’ve definitely noticed the competitiveness,” Goodwin said.

“Everyone wants to work with like little kids or at a preschool and that’s really just first come first serve.”

The number one piece of advice students in the past have given to Snyder is to be thoughtful about what your interests are and choose a place based on that, not where your friends are going.

“Once you’re there, if you’ve chosen your agency based on what you want, you’ll have more motivation to be engaged in the project to really take initiative,” Snyder said.