By Opinions Editor, Camryn Stroupe
On a bright Saturday morning, students from across campus gathered with one goal in mind: service. Tiger Serve Day (TSD) is a longstanding Ouachita tradition of bringing helping hands to our community and giving back to the place we call home for four years. As a senior, I’ve served in many Tiger Serve Days during my time at Ouachita, and it has impacted me with knowledge that I could not have gained anywhere else.
One lesson I’ve taken away from Tiger Serve Day is the value of organizing large groups for a common goal. The Elrod Center organizes a great number of teams on TSD, allowing students to make a huge impact on the community in mere hours. Many people can get a lot done in one morning and have fun doing it. Having served as a team leader multiple times, I’ve gotten a taste of what goes on behind-the-scenes planning for TSD with the Elrod Center and the TSD Leadership Team. Coordinating that many volunteers is such hard work, but it is so appreciated, and it goes a long way.
Another lesson I’ve learned from Tiger Serve Day is the importance of connecting with those in our community. An experience that sticks out to me was serving my junior year at a senior citizen’s home where she told us stories of her days at Ouachita after our job was complete. She told us just how much she and her family love the school.
This semester, my team had the opportunity to pray over a senior citizen who recently lost her mother, who was in her nineties. This real, authentic connection is out there everywhere, and as students in our Ouachita bubble, we rarely take the time to talk to others around us. Tiger Serve Day has helped me learn the value of connecting to our communities, and not just serving them, but also being a source of relationships for them as well.
Whether it’s trimming the grass, cutting a hedge, cleaning a windowsill or picking up after animals, Tiger Serve Day is a major representation of Ouachita to the community. It binds us together, allows us to get so much done in a morning and allows true connection with the community of Arkadelphia. So next time sign-ups for Tiger Serve Day roll around…don’t walk, run! I can promise it will be a fulfilling use of your morning.
