But to do so is to forget about a significant part of Jesuit education. In the face of such enticing competition, the Office of Community Service and Service Learning at Saint Peter's operates as the epicenter of service activity for the College. During the past year, the Campus Service Calendar has included events ranging from a Fall Blood Drive to the Juvenile Diabetes Walk at Liberty State Park to a Christmas Giving Tree. Students tutored grammar school children, volunteered at a soup kitchen, and gave a campus Halloween party for kids. These experiences, and many more, have given Saint Peter's students the opportunity to make a real impact on the lives of people in the community, and allowed the students to grow in ways they never imagined.
Service becomes a reciprocal relationship between the students and the people they are serving.
The student contributes time and talent, but simultaneously learns the wisdom of the person being served. This sentiment is echoed by many of the students who work in the office. Sylvia Munoz '00, says that her service experience has helped her devise her goals for the future, which include a Ph.d in Cancer Research. I've met so many wonderful people through my service involvement at Saint Peter's. There's a great feeling of satisfaction, an inner peace, from the Christmas Giving Tree, where we were able to buy presents for children, to simply bringing a smile to someone's face.