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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
PAGE 3
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CAMPUS
Study hopes to end barriers to volunteering
YU KYUNG LEE news@kansan.com
Members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, pictured here at a Big Brothers Big Sisters event, were questioned on what kept them from volunteering, the most common answer being lack of time and time management.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Volunteering - it's not something many college men voluntarily choose to do. Men aged 20 to 24 are the group least likely to volunteer among all gender and age groups, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Senior Zack Korte from Lawrence hoped to change the numbers locally, starting with his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon.
In a practicum for his Applied Behavioral Science class, Korte addressed the question of why college men don't like to volunteer. By identifying the barriers that keep many members of his fraternity from volunteering, Korte wanted to help other college men overcome those barriers.
While fraternity members are required to spend at least 10 hours per semester on community service, most members have been doing so out of requirement and meeting just the mandatory hours, Korte Said.
"You want them to be motivated internally, so they desire to volunteer even without the requirement," said Micki Chestnut, director of communications at the United Way of Douglas County and the main supervisor for Korte's Practicum. "Once they are out of their living environment, no one's going to be keeping hours for them."
At the beginning of the semester, Korte surveyed members of Sigma Phi Epsilon to identify the key barriers.
"For many freshmen, the biggest barrier was time and time management," Korte said. "They were worried about how
they'd handle classes, free time and all the activities you have in the fraternity"
He also found that there was an overall lack of knowledge about all the different opportunities and volunteer agencies. Since then, Korte scheduled weekly meetings at his fraternity where he addressed and discussed barriers and solutions.
"A lot of guys wanted to volunteer, but they just didn't know how to," Korte said. "So my first intervention was talking about volunteering on the weekends and ways to combine interests with volunteering."
A key solution he offered was to connect interests and talents with volunteering opportunities.
"We really,really value the volunteer impact of KU students and we hope that more and more students will get engaged."
MICKI CHESTNUT United Way of Douglas County
"If you were an engineering major, do something engineering-based like building a house for Habitat for Humanity," Korte said. "There are ways to connect different things. You aren't blocking off a whole chunk of time just for volunteering and you kill two birds with one stone."
Another intervention Korte did focused on all the different opportunities to volunteer in Lawrence.
There are around 30 different volunteer organizations in Lawrence and Douglas County that people could volunteer at,
"KU students can be, and are an amazing resource in Lawrence. They give a lot, they are full of energy and enthusiasm, and they have wonderful ideas," Chestnut said. "A lot of agencies in town would love to find a way to work well with students. We really, really value the volunteer impact of KU students and we hope that more and more students will get engaged."
He also tried to instill the values of why college men should volunteer.
"I focused on what volunteering gives to your community, but also what it gives back to you, like
networking, connections with the community, as well as a piece of mind that you contributed," Korte said.
At the end of the semester, the interventions ended up paying off for Sigma Phi Epsilon.
"Guys really responded to it and we had a tremendous increase in our personal hours," said Cormac O'Connor, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon. "I believe we are required to have 10 hours a semester per member but I believe we are up to about 20 hours a semester per member."
Not only had the number of volunteer hours per member increased this semester, the number of members who expressed interest in volunteering after college
increased.
Ultimately, United Way will use what Korte found in his practicum research to identify different ways to approach college men in civic engagement. By sharing the information with other agencies, the impact of the research could be extensive, Chestnut said.
"With Zack's information, we can find out better ways to open the doors for college men to get engaged in volunteering." Chestnut said. "If you take the long-term perspective, these are men who will hopefully become life-long volunteers. Who knows what impact they can have in their communities."
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Edited by Alec Weaver
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