While there are several community service clubs on campus that host different events and reach different areas of the Milpitas community, the main motivation that unites all of them is to inspire people to serve others, Interact Club secretary and junior Michelle Ng said.
“After the pandemic, people are kind of disconnected from school,” Ng said. “We really wanted to create a community where you get to talk to people and also serve the community at the same time.”
Interact organizes at least 5 service events per month, Ng said. While there are a variety of opportunities, including park cleanups and food pantry sorting, accessibility to their members is the emphasis, she said.
“On average, I would say that about 50 members attend each park cleanup,” Ng said. “So far, for this school year, Interact has accumulated 1100 service hours.”
After reaching the goal of 500 total hours of service last year, Interact’s cabinet wanted to build both more consistency and better member connections, Ng said.
“I think because we are a larger club, it can actually foster better connections because people aren’t as afraid to join because so many other people are doing it,” Ng said. “At our meeting last Thursday, these freshmen came up and they were like, ‘Oh, we really liked the game you did. We got to know each other through this game.’”
Environmental Society club member and junior Andrew Zhu said the Environmental Society’s campus cleanups and educational slideshow meetings have opened his eyes to new forms of sustainability, most of which have created new lifestyle choices, he said.
“In the United States, I feel like we have a really convenience-based culture,” Zhu said. “I’ve started biking instead of trying to take car trips every day. … It’s helped me confront consumerism in a way.”
Through the campus cleanups, the Environmental Society is able to clean and reorganize all of the recycling bins around campus and pick up trash, Zhu said. Though most of that work goes unrecognized by most students, this type of service is not intended to be widely celebrated, he said.
“Some people may or may not see it this way, but I feel like these recycling cleanups (are) my duty to do as a person who lives on Earth,” Zhu said.
Leadership, Experience, Opportunity (LEO) Club secretary and junior Jeslyn Nguyen, who coordinates all of LEO’s activities and connects students with the community, said that instilling humanitarian values in their club members is what is most rewarding as an officer.
“You don’t want to just be dawdling around, watching the world pass you,” Nguyen said. “Being able to participate in these events, … knowing that what’s happening in front of you is the direct effect of what you’ve done makes you feel good.”
LEO hosts an event called “Bioblitz,” unique to the club, where participants go on nature trails in Coyote Creek in partnership with the environmental organization Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, Nguyen said.
“I know this program doesn’t only benefit our members; it also benefits the organization because after you finish, a lot of time they’ll have you take a survey so they know what high schoolers like,” LEO publicist and junior Ariel Shen said. The survey “spreads awareness about keeping Coyote Creek nice for everyone.”
LEO members learn about Coyote Creek’s wildlife, which puts perspective into the consequences of the trash that humans leave behind, Nguyen said.
“I think it really makes them aware of the nature around them since we’re indoors most of the time,” Nguyen said.
Even though LEO’s Bioblitz is outside of Milpitas, members are still dedicated to attending even if the events are held in the early morning hours over the weekend with far commutes, Nguyen said.
“The farthest we went was Morgan Hill, which was, to be honest, a booking accident on our part — it’s a 30-minute drive from here,” Nguyen said. “But people still show up. We actually average 20 to 25 members per Bioblitz.”
Community service clubs are extremely dedicated towards benefiting both their members and the organizations they partner with, Ng said. Interact’s work around Milpitas aims to inspire students to join the various service clubs, Ng added.
“It’s really crazy how much a couple hours of someone’s day can save many people, especially with something like volunteering at a food pantry,” Ng said. “By organizing all the food and donating food, you’re helping somebody not go hungry for another day.”