'A day on, not off': 2024 MLK Day at HPU

High Point University advertises itself as a school that gives back to the community and encourages students to volunteer as well. Every year on Martin Luther King Day HPU demonstrates their eagerness to serve the community, by providing students the opportunity to volunteer in numerous ways. I had the privilege of serving at one of the meal packing sessions, but I also got an inside perspective from Grant Hines.

 

Hines is the Student Engagement VISTA in HPU’s Center for Community Engagement. In his position he handles the volunteer management between all the service projects on MLK Day.  He also has experience in the marketing aspect of the event, where he has created and sent out press releases, designed content to be put on social media and around the community and has booked interviews with local TV stations.

 

Students at HPU have many ways to give back on and off campus. “We have everything from fresh vegetable seed packing to backpack supply stuffing to garden clean ups,” Hines said.  

 

According to High Point’s Instagram page, certain individuals in the community like veterans also receive free dental care from HPU’s Workman School of Dental Medicine. 

 

Students also had the ability to help make renovations to a local middle school that needed some updates.

 

“We like to remind our students that MLK Day is ‘a day on, not a day off,’ so that means encouraging your friends to get out and pick a volunteer opportunity that suits your interest,” said Hines. 

 

When you do volunteer, don’t feel like you must be tied down to one activity. HPU wants you to experience how it feels to give back in many ways. “You can volunteer with more than one project throughout the day,” said Hines. “Some projects have multiple shifts, so if you don’t want to stay the entire time at one shift you can go to another to get a variety of volunteer experience that day.”

 

The university uses a website called GivePulse, which allows students to log in their volunteer hours for all of the events offered. “We know that our students log well over a million hours each year, but the university has a goal of logging one million hours on GivePulse by the end of 2024 to celebrate our 100th anniversary,” said Hines.

 

Celebrating HPU is not the only reason for encouraging so many of its students to volunteer.  HPU wants to teach its students what giving back is truly all about and start out the new year on a positive note.  Hines said, “It shouldn’t be something that you do just to get it done, but to truly make a change in someone else’s life.”

 

Even if you missed out on volunteering this year, there is always next year. It is truly so much fun and an experience that you and your friends will never forget!