Volunteer and Service Learning Program
The Volunteer & Service Learning Program (VSLP) is a key initiative within the Efferson Student Union & Activities (ESUA) at Florida A&M University (FAMU). Our mission is to engage students in leadership development and service-learning opportunities that drive transformative learning experiences and promote social change. VSLP is inclusive, welcoming all FAMU students regardless of their background, major, or status. Through our programs, students and staff come together to share diverse perspectives, ask critical questions, and create meaningful community impact.
What We Offer for FAMU Students
- Leadership Development & Training: We provide leadership development and training programs designed to cultivate the next generation of FAMU leaders. By participating in volunteering and service-learning opportunities, students enhance their leadership skills while making a positive impact on their communities.
- Community Service & Volunteer Opportunities: Our enriching community service programs connect students with meaningful volunteer opportunities in Tallahassee and the surrounding areas. These experiences allow students to contribute to community welfare while gaining valuable life skills.
- Service Learning Integration: We help students integrate service learning into their academic and extracurricular experiences. This approach combines academic study with community service, offering students practical application of their knowledge and skills.
- Volunteer Hour Documentation: VSLP offers a system for documenting community service and volunteer hours on the Rattler Record or a dedicated volunteer transcript. This official record helps students showcase their commitment to service when applying for jobs, internships, or further education.
- Student Leadership Opportunities: We seek students who are passionate about service and willing to lead. These student leads take charge of various projects, stepping outside their comfort zones to make a significant difference.
- Awards and Acknowledgements: Receive recognition for outstanding service, leadership, and commitment to VSLP, with awards for students who go above and beyond in accumulating service hours, attending events, and supporting VSLP initiatives.
Support for FAMU Departments
- Centralized Volunteer Hub: VSLP serves as the central hub for all volunteering activities on and off campus. We assist with recruiting FAMU student volunteers for university-sponsored events, departmental activities, and community initiatives. Our support includes promoting these opportunities through the ESUA Community Service and Volunteer calendar, social media, and other platforms.
- Partnership & Collaboration: We collaborate with departments and sponsoring entities to conduct information sessions and recruitment meetings, ensuring that events are well-staffed with enthusiastic volunteers.
Engagement with the Community
- Community Volunteer Recruitment: VSLP partners with community agencies to recruit FAMU student volunteers for approved events and activities. We assist in promoting these opportunities through our communication channels, including the ESUA calendar and social media.
- Mailing List & Updates: VSLP maintains a mailing list for external partners and community members who wish to receive periodic updates on volunteer opportunities and events, such as the 1st Strike Volunteer Fair.
Annual Service Projects
VSLP organizes several large-scale service projects throughout the year, including:
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Teams & Groups
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The Green TeamThe HandsRepresents the “hands” of the university—students who are passionate about hands-on work and don’t mind getting their hands dirty. |
The Orange TeamThe HeartRepresents the “hearts” of the university—students driven by a passion to give back and make a difference in the community. |
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These teams are open to any student interested in volunteering. They compete in various
events, including who can have the most team members participate in projects, donate
the most canned goods, or win the best trunk decoration at the annual ESUA & CAB The
Great Org. Trunk Or Treat event. |
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Committees Within CAB
FAVES |
Volunteer Opportunities |
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The FAVES committee exemplifies FAMU’s motto, “Excellence With Caring,” by organizing volunteer opportunities in collaboration with Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), departments, athletics, and off-campus partners. Students can check iStrike to learn about upcoming volunteer events and how they can get involved. |
Volunteer Opps is a dedicated group of students who discover and share volunteer opportunities in the local and surrounding areas with their fellow Rattlers. We ensure that everyone has access to meaningful ways to serve the community. |
Volunteer Programs
The Big Event brings together hundreds of college students from Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and Tallahassee Community College to say ‘thank you’ to the Tallahassee community at one of the largest, one-day, student-run service projects in the nation.
We are proud to announce our partnership with “JustServe”. JustServe’ is a database that provides opportunities to get involved, outside of what we post. With JustServe, you are able to search for a specific location, organization, or project.
ESU Leadership Institute provides a dynamic, intensive student leadership training/motivational experience to students. It is an academy designed to foster servant leadership, critical-thinking and motivate FAMU future leaders to action.
Follow us on Instagram!
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FAMU Volunteer and Service Opps |
FAMU Active Volunteer Efforts
Facilitating and promoting the growth of students, the FAMU campus,
and the Tallahassee community through outreach and public service. |
Volunteering 101
The Tallahassee community is an integral part of the service and volunteer experience for FAMU students. The community provides students with experiential learning opportunities that directly impact the people of Tallahassee. When engaging FAMU students for service and volunteer projects in Tallahassee there are some things community organizations and organizers should do to prepare.
Identify a volunteer supervisor/contact person. This person will be responsible for working with student volunteers.
Conducting a volunteer orientation or training
Supervising the students during the service/volunteer activity
Tracking student hours
Approving (or denying) involvement entries in iStrike. This requires an official email address (ie jon.doe@famu.edu). Gmail, Yahoo or other free email services accounts are not acceptable.
Conduct a orientation or workshop. This will be your opportunity to prepare students for the demands of the service/volunteer activity.
Introduce the supervisor/contact person
Explain volunteer expectations
Explain the time commitments
Explain how hours should be documented on site
Explain the deadline for submitting the involvement hours on iStirke
Collect emergency contact information. When on site a student may experience a crisis that will require you to contact someone who knows the student personally.
Submit a Service & Volunteer Announcement Request. Approved requests will be posted on iStrike and emailed to all FAMU students that have completed the ESUA Leadership & Service Learning Orientation.
How Students Should Prepare for Service and Volunteering
Community service and volunteer opportunities provide students with personal and professional development experiences that contribute to the overall development of the student. This type of development is critical to the production of successful graduates and professionals. In support of this developmental principal FAMU students are required to complete service/volunteer hours for certain academic and scholarship programs.
Complete your iStrike account profile. iStrike is the online system managed by Efferson Student Union & Activities in which students must document their service/volunteer hours.
Attend an ESUA Leadership & Service Learning Orientation Session. Although attendance is not required in order to receive credit for service/volunteer hours participation in a LSL Orientation will provide students with useful information.
How to be an effective volunteer on campus and in the community
Access to service/volunteer opportunities sponsored by ESUA, campus partners and community partners.
Attend orientation/training offered by the organization providing service/volunteer opportunity. This will help you to see if the opportunity meets your personal and professional goals.
Identify the project supervisor
Identify uniforms and/or required attire
Identify how service/volunteer hours are recorded
Carry yourself professionally at all times. Participation in service/volunteer activities are a reflection on you as an individual and FAMU.
If you cannot meet the requirements communicate that supervisor.
Follow all rules and procedures set by supervisors to ensure your safety and to fully understand the task at hand.
Document hours in iStrike immediately. This will help to ensure that your hours are reported to the Registrar in the next reporting cycle. Some organizations have deadlines as to when they will validate/approve service/volunteer hours.
You will need to document your hours using the appropriate Volunteer and Service Entry Form.
Educate supervisors with the FAMU/iStrike procedures. In many cases service/volunteer hours are not reported to the Registrar because they have not been approved by the supervisor/contact person indicated in iStrike.
Make them aware of the email notifications they will receive from iStrike/Orgsync (no-reply@orgsync.com).
Make them aware of the reporting cycle and how soon you need them to respond.
Follow up on service/volunteer entries. It is your responsibility to verify that your service/volunteer hours are accurately reflected on your transcript.
Review your involvement hours in your iStrike account to see if they have been approved by the supervisor/contact person.
Contact supervisors/contact persons if they have not approved your service/volunteer hours.
Review your transcripts each month to verify that all hours are documented.
Things to remember
Supervisors/contact persons must use business or professional email addresses when approving service/volunteer hours. Personal email address such as jondoe@gmail.com or jane_doe@yahoo.com cannot be verified for accuracy. Any service/volunteer hour entries using personal email addressed will be automatically denied. Service/Volunteer hours can be submitted only in the involvement section of iStrike. Paper, email, or verbal verification are not accepted.
If for some reason your service/volunteer hours are not recorded accurately on your transcript please complete a Service/Volunteer Hour Audit Request.
Updates Concerning Volunteer Hours & Audits
The first week of the month is the processing week for hours and audits submitted the previous month. Audits are not processed or reviewed until this time.
Volunteer hours submitted during the processing week will not be reviewed until the following week.
Hours must be submitted by the last day of the month to reflect on your transcript the following month.
Any hours submitted after the 1st of the month or any hours approved by the contact person after the 1st of the month will not be reviewed or approved until after the processing week has concluded.
Hours may be processed faster than the timeline given, however, this is the standard time.
Volunteer & Service Hour Submission Process
Volunteer hours are tracked and verified within our iRattler system. When a student and/or group completes volunteer hours, they must acquire the following documents:
Verification Letter of Hours and Services Rendered:
Must be on the sponsoring entity's official letterhead and have an original “handwritten”
signature at the bottom. Letters cannot be written or signed by a student i.e. President,
Vice President, Community Service Chair, etc. of the organization/sponsoring entity.
Your Letter Must Include:
Contact Information of the sponsoring entity, company, department, organization, etc. you completed the service.
The sponsoring entity’s name, volunteer activities/services performed, and the number of hours completed/awarded.
Month, Day, and year service was performed (MM/DD/YYYY).
Your full name (first and last name), FAMU email address, and your FAMU ID#.
A handwritten signature.
Submitted in PDF Format .
You will need to upload your unofficial transcript from iRattler for proof of enrollment. Must be enrolled at the time volunteer service was performed and submitting hours.
Document Upload and Hour Submission Form:
Step 1.
LOG INTO iRATTLER
SELECT STUDENT CENTER
SELECT VOLUNTEER
SELECT ADD A NEW VALUE
Step 2.
Submitted hours will undergo the verification process.
FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS
*** PLEASE NOTE, iRATTLER. WILL ONLY ACCEPT PDF FORMATTED DOCUMENT
Step 3.
CLICK SAVE AND SUBMIT
***IF YOU WISH TO ADD MULTIPLE “PROOF OF SERVICE” LETTERS, CLICK SAVE AND THEN ADD.
ONLY CLICK SAVE WHEN YOU ARE DONE ADDING ALL “PROOF OF SERVICE LETTERS”
Allow at least, 7-14 Business Days for hours to appear on the transcript.
Hours are processed twice a month, on the 15th and 30th or the next business day if falls on a weekend or holiday.
No hours will be processed after either date. If submitted after one deadline, hours will be processed on the next submission date.
If your proof of service letter has multiple names attached, each submitting person must highlight their name before uploading the form, or it will be denied.
Yes. Hours are only accepted within the current semester, the service is performed.
Allow at least, 7-14 business days for hours to appear on the transcript. Please do not contact the Office of the Registrar for an update.
Contact
| Name | Phone | |
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| Edward Kincheon | edward.kincheon@famu.edu | (850) 599-3400 |