Service

STEM Storytime is an event where The LSU College of Science and Office of Diversity and Inclusion invites children in kindergarten through third grade to explore the worlds of math and science through an exciting science story time adventure led by some of the university’s top scientists and mathematicians. Each story time is followed by a fun, hands-on activity that allows young scientists to feed their curiosity and take a deep dive into math and science discovery. During this experience, I acted as a group leader for the kids and directed them from one activity to another.

Death Valley at LSU is known for it's legendary football games, and after every football game is also a legendary amount of trash, so in an effort to reduce plastic waste and encourage recycling, The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) clubs of LSU and UA go head to head to see who can collect the most trash. Our mission as the LSU NWF club was to "Beat Bama" not only in football, but also sustainability as well. This is a picture of me standing next to the piles of recyclable waste that we collected from a small section in Tiger Stadium.

October is breast cancer awareness month, and to help spread awareness, Baton Rouge General hosts an annual pink pumpkin patch so that people can come through, pick some pumpkins, and have those pink pumpkins on their porches in an effort to spark conversation about breast cancer. As volunteers, me and my friends helped in setting up the pumpkin patch the day before the event so that everything would go smoothly the day of the event.

Personally, I have been blessed with a roof over my head and hot meals prepared by my mother every evening as I grew up. But oftentimes, it's not the same for other people. I want to do my part in distributing food for those in need by volunteering at a verified and reputable organization that has been providing nourishment for the Greater Baton Rouge Area for more than 35 years. This is a picture of the LSU Badminton Club volunteering at The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Volunteer LSU (VLSU) is one of LSU's largest annual volunteering events, and during this event VLSU provides numerous volunteering locations for volunteers to spend time at. For the year 2020, COVID was at it's height, but that didn't stop The LSU Badminton Club from volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, which was a second hand furniture store. We organized doors, moved window panes, and talked to customers looking to purchase products. This experience was one of my first volunteer experiences at LSU; volunteering with VLSU managed to rekindle my love for community service and it led to a cascading period of intense community service for me.

Capitol City Produce provides the LSU Food Pantry with fresh produce to hand out to students in need, but there must be volunteers to help maintain the crops and tend to the fields. For this reason I volunteered with the Ogden Honors College at LSU to help Capitol City Produce plant vegetables in the Spring, so that they could provide the Baton Rouge Area with crops during the Fall in an effort to combat food insecurity. Some of the crop would also go to the LSU Food Pantry to help their efforts in food insecurity as well.

Diversity is an important factor in my life, and I strive to put my best foot forward when it comes to representation. Something that you will always see at career expos, fall fests, and info fairs at LSU, is the Office of Diversity's stand somewhere on the block, and there's a good chance that I'm there too! This is a picture of our stand in the Horse Shoe living community on campus. In this picture we are handing out some diversity swag.

The College of Science at LSU has a separate office for diversity and inclusion, and this is also a department that I am active in. In this photo I am volunteering at one of the undergraduate info fairs, informing students about some of our awesome programs (STEM Story Time, Girls Day at the Museum, Our Earth, Our Laboratory etc).

In 2022, the Men's Final Four was hosted in New Orleans, and they were in need of volunteers to take charge in one of their many positions during their 3 day event. Me and my friend Peter learned about this and took it as an opportunity to help out the Greater New Orleans Community and Sports Foundation by providing fun, upbeat vibes to the Final Four Fan Fest. We were in charge of the mock hockey station. This is a picture of us with the Baylor Bears basketball team head coach Scott Drew.

In 2023 the Men's Final Four was hosted in Houston, Texas and having experienced the Final Four a year before, me and my friend were compelled to attend this year's Final Four as well. We participated in the same roles as the year before, working in logistics and operations in the fan fest organized by Capital One, sponsored by Coca Cola; and acting as a host and greeter for people coming in to the music fest sponsored by Capital One, with Tim McGraw performing. The event was a great time, and through this service event not only did I get to know the Houston area better, but I was also able to serve the final four attendees by providing directions to crucial attractions in both festivals. I believe that being involved in the community can be shown in many ways, and this is one of them.

To commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, on January 16th 2023, LSU once again organized the ongoing annual MLK Day of Service, where students volunteer at different locations within Baton Rouge. For our group, we were assigned to volunteer at the Scotlandville Community Development Committee, where we helped the neighborhood pick up trash. Our designation was a local high school a couple blocks down from the neighborhood, where we picked up a whopping total of more than 10 bags of trash! I really appreciated this opportunity because it was an eye opening experience on how much trash is left on the sides of roads. I look forward to doing more events like this in the future.

Both part of the SCI Lead initiative, I helped organized Minute Meetings - an opportunity for undergraduate students to learn more about research and graduate school, and Field Day - an opportunity for students in the College of Science to de-stress before finals. At the end of Minute Meetings, everyone attending left the room with newfound knowledge about the application process for professional and graduate schools, as well as other valuable information. At Field Day, people enjoyed Kona Ice, as well as the free t-shirts that we were handing out to students passing by.

Combining some of my favorite hobbies - volunteering and painting, I joined the Junior League of Baton Rouge, and The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers at LSU (LSU NOBBChE), to help a local elementary school restore their playground paintings. The thought of happy kids playing in their newly refurbished playground brings me great joy.

The LSU Dean's Circle Science and Spirits is an opportunity for College of Science (CoS) faculty to present their yearlong work, and for the CoS to celebrate advancements happening within the department. During this event, select students are invited to host tables and present their own research. This is a great opportunity for invited students to network with faculty and demonstrate their communication and research skills by simply having a conversation. During this event, my peers and I hosted the SCI Lead table, where we presented our work to faculty members and industry professionals alike.

To celebrate the bountiful strawberry harvest in Louisiana, the Red Stick Farmers Market would host an annual Strawberry Jam Day. For the year 2023, the LSU SCI Lead Council was asked to participate. We performed one of our classic stand experiences - Strawberry DNA Extraction, in accordance to the theme in front of an audience of all ages. Everyone was curious on the process and was even allowed everyone to extract the DNA themselves. Through this experience we enhanced the atmosphere of Strawberry Jam Day, and provided entertainment for shoppers coming into the farmers market. Looking back at the experience I remember the happy faces of young passerby's as they joined us in extracting strawberry DNA. I believe that events like these inspire the next generation of curious minds. I look forward to doing more events like this one.

The Crescent City Classic is a 10-kilometer road race held annually in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The course starts in the historic French Quarter and follows a scenic route through the city before finishing at City Park. In addition to the main 10K race, there are also shorter races for children and a 2-mile walk. For the 2023 Crescent City Classic, me and my friends volunteered at the Fitness Expo as well as the Race Fest. At the Fitness Expo we helped attendees check in and directed them to where they needed to go; at the Race Fest we helped prepare red beans and rice for hungry runners looking for quick carb replenishments. This was a great example of a  "classic" community service opportunity.