Wednesday, November 11, 2015 // The Statement
6B
Student Profile:
Nicole Potchen
by Tanya Madhani,
Daily Staff Reporter
L
SA senior Nicole Potchen, president of Circle K, a
service organization on campus, said she’s been
involved in community service her entire life — from
helping her church to National Honor Society in high school.
But she didn’t get involved in community service at the
University until some of her friends had mentioned that she
could take part in an Alternative Spring Break trip with them
to Denver, Colo., for Habitat for Humanity.
“A long drive like that, you definitely bond with everyone
else in the car after being with them for so long,” Potchen
said.
She didn’t have any experience with construction or
building houses, she said, but the experience grew her
passion for service and for Circle K, who sponsored the ASB
trip.
Circle K’s largest event, Potchen said, is Service Day, a
24-hour cycle of continuous community service and is the
first large Circle K event she participated in when she first
joined.
“I just got to meet a lot of great people on Service Day,”
she said. “Even though I was a member of the club, I wasn’t
very active at that time, but after Service Day, I became very
active. I got involved with the leadership team the next year
and I’ve been involved ever since.”
The event this year is from 8 a.m. on Nov. 14 to 8 a.m.
on Nov. 15. The organization has partnered with twenty
different student organizations, 200 Greek Life students and
the Ginsberg Center for its eleventh year.
The Michigan Daily interviewed Potchen as she made
final preparations for the upcoming event.
What do you think the climate is surrounding
community service at the University?
I think I have a unique perspective, because I’m so
involved with Circle K. I probably view it differently than
most people. I would say, in general, I think sometimes
community service can be viewed as a burden rather than
something that is good. I think a lot of people do community
service for their resumes and because it will help them in
their personal growth in their career. But, I think that, for
me and for most of the people that I’m surrounded by, we do
community service because we think that it’s our duty and
that’s what we should do. I think a lot of people actually do
view it that way, but they think that college is very tricky to
find the time to actually do community service. I’ve learned
that it really doesn’t take that much time. It’s really fit into
your schedule and can work pretty well.
Why do you think it’s important, as a college student, to
participate in community service?
Just because you’re in college, doesn’t really mean that
you don’t (have) time for service. I think that a lot of people
brush it to the side. But doing community service really
breaks you out of the college bubble that you’re living in. It’s
really easy to get sucked into “I need to study,” “I need to do
well on this exam,” and by doing community service and by
getting out of even just Ann Arbor for a day or a few hours,
you get a different perspective on real life. I think that’s
really important to keep in mind, that we’re not just isolated
here on campus. The University of Michigan is not the only
thing that matters right now, even though a lot of people get
sucked into that.
How do you think Service Day impacts those who
participate in it?
If you have not really been involved in Circle K, then this
even will definitely push you to be involved because of the
people you meet and seeing the impact that we have. You
really get to know the people that you’re volunteering with
and you personally feel like you’ve accomplished so much
at the end of the day. My freshman year, I left around 10 or
11 p.m. and I just felt so fulfilled. I had just done all these
awesome things in just a day. It’s definitely a way for people
to get a taste of what community service feels like and see all
the benefits it can have. It’s a way for people to break out of
their study cycle where you’re always worrying about your
next project or your next exam. It’s a way to do something
different and meet new people.
How is it beneficial to the community to have this one,
24-hour day where students give back?
Just because of the volume of people we get at this event.
We’re sending a lot more people to each community partner
we’re going to than we usually send. For example, we have a
project with MAC Therapeutic Riding and we send four to
five volunteers every week, but for Service Day we’re sending
40 people. So by sending so many people, we’re really helping
out the organization and, because it’s run locally, they will
really see the impact of just this one-day. There are a lot of
other projects similar to that and because of the volume that
we’re sending, then its really helping organizations.
What do you think has been the most rewarding
experience for you through Circle K?
That’s a big question. Just my personal growth throughout
the years and the change in perception I’ve had. I think I
view community service completely differently than what I
did four years ago when I first joined. I kind of viewed it as
something that I have to do or something that I should do. It
felt just like an obligation to me, but now I understand the
reasons behind why I’m doing it. For me a lot of that is rooted
in social justice. When we do a project at a food bank, it’s
really important to understand why we’re doing that project
and all of these social inequities that make that service
necessary. This is also local and people don’t understand that
these are problems that are happening in Ann Arbor. There
are so many people that go hungry every day and so even
just by making my small contribution, I feel like I’m doing
something that can try and reduce some of the problems that
other people are having.
What kind of support have you had from the University
and local community?
So, this is the first year that we’re being sponsored by the
Ginsberg Center, which is the place that does community
service on campus. It’s really exciting to be working with
them for the first time, officially. We’ve always had the event
at the Ginsberg Center and now we’re officially working with
them and it’s been really great so far. It’s been really helpful
to have advisers and people there to help us with some of
the planning aspects of it and have been really helpful with
planning the reflections that we do all throughout the event.
It’s great to know that we’re being recognized for doing
something that’s impactful. It’s also comforting because I
know this event will continue to happen in the future with
continued sponsorship. Just knowing that we have the
University’s support behind us is great for us.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily