Auburn's civic engagement team gave students the opportunity to hear service-minded men and women talk about the importance of giving back to the community in their college years and beyond.
The "How to Use Your Skills" panel was held in Dudley Auditorium Tuesday night. The event was part of the Challenge, a two-week initiative aimed to teach students about important issues around the world.
"The idea was to try to open up service to a more feasible thing and practical thing and how you could do it in day-to-day life and how we can do it as Auburn students," said Emily Crane, senior in elementary education and leader of the civic engagement team. "Then as we go into the workforce, what it can look like to practically give back and make our lives about more than just ourselves and engage our communities."
Representing organizations like the International Justice Mission, NightLight USA, Vapor Sports Ministry and Global LEAD, the panel urged students to take the initiative and actively fight against the injustices of the world.
"Your mission in life that's going to really fulfill you and allow you to make a really positive impact on the world is going to be at the intersection of your passions and the world's needs," said Chip Scivicque, leader of Campus Crusade at Auburn. "I'm just telling you, if you will find your passion and you'll look at the world's needs and find that intersection and walk that road, it'll be better than anything the world has to offer."
While only a national movement, even global goals are important in the ultimate achievement of success, and Scivicque explained that overcoming world hunger or sex trafficking doesn't happen overnight.
"Every one of us, even people who start big organizations like the Gary Haugen, who starts IJM, we actually live most of our lives in obscurity," he said. "You know, we get up, we shower, we change clothes, we brush our teeth, we read to our kids at night, we take out the trash, we wash the dishes, you know, we kind of live in obscurity.
"We just have to do what we can do and trust that it will somehow be used as big as it needs to be used. One of the things I just kind of operate on is that the God I serve will take what I do in the moment and make it as eternal as he wants it to be, and he's able to take what I do in one little place and make it as global as he wants it to be."
Jaclyn Lesch, Director of Student Ministries at IJM, encouraged student efforts, saying the best way to make a difference today is to place an emphasis on the individual, not the cause.
"If you've gotten behind any cause you are going to feel this way; you are going to start to look at the massive need, the massive numbers and have a tendency to lose heart," Lesch said. "There's an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today and so if we look at that massive number, it's totally overwhelming. I think that's one of the reasons why the number is rising too, because we hear that number and it's like we shut down in order to cope with it.
"It's important to celebrate those small victories and not compare it to the massive need."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
