Every year, thousands of incoming Longhorns come to summer orientation to get ready for the fall semester. In addition to learning the basics about college life, they’re also discovering the significance of the university’s core value: To transform lives for the benefit of society.

For the first time, summer orientation is including an optional community service component, offering several opportunities to give back.  In a recent information session, Amory Baril, assistant director of the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement (LCCE), met with a group of incoming freshmen to help them get started in their philanthropic pursuits.

The campus-wide initiatives highlighted in this year’s summer orientation include:

Random Acts of Kindness

An ongoing project, facilitated by the LCCE, that helps students spread kindness to the people they know–on and off campus. Through random acts of kindness, more people will feel compelled to pay it forward, thus making the campus and community happier, friendlier and more supportive.

UT Resource Recovery’s Zero Waste Project

Through various activities, such as creating reusable bags, students can help the university’s Office of Sustainability meet its goal of sending only 10 percent of waste to a landfill by year 2020.

Voter Registration Training

Volunteer deputy registrars are students who register other students to vote. The registrars go through a one-hour training that informs students how to register other students and how to handle certain situations when registering people. The training is then followed by a deputization ceremony.

Stop by the LCCE, located on the fourth floor of the Student Services Building (room 4.400), for more information about these projects, as well as other ways to get involved in community service.  Contact: utlcce@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-6161.