Tiger Serve Day set a record with 1,003 volunteers serving throughout Arkadelphia on Saturday.
Vision, integrity and service are the core standards at Ouachita, and each year Ouachita faculty and students give back to the community on Tiger Serve Day.
“Tiger Serve Day has become institutionalized as part of the Ouachita experience,” said Ian Cosh, vice president for community and international engagement. “It is something that has happened over the 15 years that Tiger Serve Day has been operating.”
Students get together with different clubs, groups and organizations to work throughout the community on Tiger Serve Day. It is a time to work alongside friends and classmates while pulling weeds and raking leaves.
“Tiger Serve Day is a really good way to give back, to reach out,” said Jessica Scoggins, a junior English major. “This Tiger Serve Day I did landscaping for an older woman in the community; she really appreciated it, and I really enjoyed helping her out.”
All over Arkadelphia, students worked on yards, picked up trash and served the community. It is a time for Ouachita to show the fact that the school is not just there to educate, but also to serve.
“It makes me really proud of our students,” said Judy Duvall, assistant director of the Elrod Center and coordinator of Elderserve. “To have almost two-thirds of the campus show up early on a Saturday morning to care about the community illustrates the quality of students we have at Ouachita. Serving others is a priority for them.”
This year broke the record in having over a thousand students volunteer at Ouachita. Ouachita’s students stepped it up, and came out to show Arkadelphia they know what it means to serve.
“It is important because it is an irrefutable way to say you care for your community,” Cosh said. “It is important because service to others is a significant Christian and university value.”
Tiger Serve Day brings about some of the best Ouachita can bring to the community, a time when students and faculty can live out their faith in service.
“It’s important because it is a completely unselfish day focused on meeting the needs of others,” Duvall said. “It’s important because it demonstrates who we are as Ouachitonians; a faith community that lives out their faith by serving.”
Picture by Nicole McPhate.
