Caroline Kammerer

The new service fair was held in the PFAC on March 21, 2019 to expose sophomores and juniors to service opportunities in the community.

Over 40 agencies from the Cincinnati area were at Badin for all different types of service issues. Sophomore students are to select an agency they would like to work with for their junior year to get twenty service hours. The students could also learn more about issues they are passionate about and encouraged to work with additional agencies as well.

“In the new service program at Badin, the theme for junior year is relationship. Each student is required to choose an agency to partner with for that year. I wanted to have an opportunity for students to gather information about a variety of agencies,” Mrs. Halverson, the service coordinator at Badin, said.

This was the first year of the service fair since the sophomore class is the first to go through the new service program.

“I first sent out a save-the-date letter explaining the program to have everyone here at one time. From there, I communicated with the agencies and had a registration in January. It was pretty seamless to organize for the first year. However, some agencies showed up that I didn’t expect and others I was expecting didn’t show up at all, but everything worked out okay,” Halverson said.

There are certain goals to service programs like the one at Badin. Since things have changed, the goals for students on their Christian journey have changed.

“I hope that the students were able to learn about new agencies they haven’t been able to work with, and connect with them for regular service or junior year service. My goal will be different for next year’s juniors because the theme for their senior year will be leadership,” Halverson said.

Being able to organize an event like the service fair can take a lot time. This service program could not be coordinated without a lot of passion for service in the community.

“I’ve worked with a lot of these agencies but there were also people I’ve never met before. I enjoy making new connections and I love the service field so to have all of these people doing good things in our community connecting with one another is amazing,” Halverson explained.

The main goal of the service fair was for students to learn more about different service issues and agencies they would like to work with.

“I am going to be working with Helping Hamilton Ministries my junior year. The service fair made me more aware of the different issues around me that I didn’t know before,” sophomore Ella Brennan said.

Students found different agencies that could suit their personal interests so they can enjoy the service work they will be doing.

“There were agencies about homelessness, education, animal rights, foster care, medical care and more. I was interested in Helping Hamilton Ministries and Made to Love,” Brennan said.

Some of the sophomores returned to class that day having been impacted by the fair.

“I enjoyed meeting all of the different people that have helped serve the community. I learned about how much one person can impact someone’s life,” Brennan said.