Lending a hand

In 2005-06, hundreds of Lewis & Clark students gave 16,000 hours in volunteer services to the community through the College’s Leadership and Service program. Junior Brie Soares, from Beverly, Massachusetts, was one. Brie has always been interested in community service, and she has found herself in good company at Lewis & Clark. “Students seem to come here with volunteerism ingrained,” she says. “I’ve never been anywhere where so many people have done so many incredible things with their time.”

Last year, Brie did some pretty incredible things with her time: She volunteered in a weekly meals program for the hungry; she read to children as part of a literacy program; and as a Leadership and Service staff member, she led a student trip to San Francisco to work with AIDS organizations. Even in her semester overseas, she focused her experiences in Kenya and Tanzania on volunteerism, lending her time and talents to assistance programs for street kids.

This year, Brie volunteers at a local high school, tutoring struggling students and helping them decide what they want to do after they graduate. Meanwhile, her experiences, both in class and out in the world, are helping her to see more clearly what she wants to do after Lewis & Clark. “My focus now is on working with troubled youths,” she says. “I lucked out--my experiences here have given me perspective on what’s important. This has allowed me to focus my studies on things that really matter and has helped me see what I truly love.”