Sacramento State Community Engagement Center coordinator Misty Garcia led the last of three orientations for the Students in Service program on Wednesday.

Students in Service is a national program from AmeriCorps , which is a government organization centered on providing community service toward schools and other non-profit entities and also enrolls Sac State students.

Approximately 10 students showed up to the orientation. Garcia said the turnout was definitely smaller on Wednesday than the past two orientations, but she expected it.

“The students usually have already started their service right around the first two weeks of school,” Garcia said. “Some students start their service even before school starts. Usually the students that attend today’s orientation were the ones that were unable to get information from their departments beforehand.”

The program is specifically targeted toward students with majors like physical therapy, student teaching, social work, counseling, and any other major that has a large component of services as part of the program. These majors require a significant amount of time for community service or fieldwork because the incentive to serve for hundreds of hours is obvious or else the students will not graduate, Garcia said.

“We usually don’t target people who are just doing volunteerism on their own for a few hours. This is a big commitment to do Students in Service,” Garcia said.

Students in Service offers three yearly awards, which is dependent on how many hours of community service a student wants to provide: a 300-hour term awards $1,132, a 450-hour term awards $1,415 and a two-year, 900-hour term awards $2,675.

However, roughly 10 slots for the 300-hour term remain for students to apply for altogether.

Garcia said no specific non-profit organizations are targeted by Students in Service. Departments at Sac State already work with students and agencies to make a contract for community service before students apply for Students in Service, Garcia said.

“Students usually have their job sites in mind by the time they come to us,” Garcia said. “They are already going to a place that’s going to best meet their education learning needs.”

This year, Students in Service offered 70 volunteer positions in total for students. Garcia said the positions are almost always filled. However, in the rare cases in which they aren’t, they become available in the spring semester.

Micah Stevenson can be reached at [email protected]