photos by Gracey Evans
Shayna Mendez, senior photojournalism major, helps Alexa Neely, sophomore sports, arts and entertainment management and accounting double major, support a wooden beam as they help refurbish a home for Habitat for Humanity as one of the many Pioneer Community Day activities.
In the face of dreary weather and a budget that was short of what was initially expected, United Student Government’s (USG) Pioneer Community Day (PCD) drew more than 60 student volunteers to work on beautification projects throughout Pittsburgh.
PCD is an annual volunteering event hosted by USG, aimed at getting the university’s students, faculty and administration to “give back to the community.”
This year’s installation of the event, the sixth annual, took place on Saturday, April 2, beginning with sign in at 8:30 a.m. Volunteers went out into city, primarily the downtown area, at approximately 9 a.m.
Volunteers worked with several different organizations for their projects. Students worked with Habitat for Humanity, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Friends of the Riverfront and Point Park University throughout the day. Sixty-one volunteers showed up for the event, 248 volunteer hours were conducted and 64 shuttle miles were logged throughout the day.
Freshman dance and SAEM double major Chelsea Raymond spent the day installing drywall in housing projects with Habitat for Humanity.
“It was completely new to me and putting the mud in the wall was weird, but cool,” Raymond said. “It took a while to get it right but once you did it was a really great feeling, knowing that you’re helping to build this house.”
Bobby Bertha, chairperson with the PCD planning committee, said that students working with Friends of the Riverfront planted trees.
“I think each group of kids, I want to say they were in group of four or five, planted three trees each,” Bertha said. “There were students from Pitt and CMU who were also there, completely unrelated to our event but just happened to be volunteering on the same day, so there [were] a very large number of trees planted that day.”
The volunteers working with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership went out and painted over graffiti in the downtown area. On Point Park’s campus, volunteers worked to beautify the area behind the Student Center.
The PCD planning committee emphasized clubs and organizations volunteering together to make an impact on the community this year. The men’s soccer team was the only sports club to register as a group, though Point Park’s Dance Club, Impulse, the Christian-Body Fellowship the Pre-Med Club and the fourth floor of Thayer Hall all registered as groups to volunteer together.
“I hope [USG] continues with that theme of rallying around the student organizations, to continue that support,” said Dean of Students Keith Paylo. “If you can engage the student organizations and continue to do that, you’ll see your numbers continue to grow. It’s not just USG giving back and USG’s community day, but the university’s community day.”
The PCD planning committee was forced to readjust their plans for the event due to USG’s budget problem, cutting the cost of event from $4,000 to just a little over $2,300.
“We originally had planned a block party, and we had to cut that,” Bertha said. “Included in the block party, we had to cut the bouncy houses we wanted to have and a dunk tank, so that was the majority of everything we had to get rid of.”
The block party that was planned on First Avenue between Wood Street and Smithfield Street was moved inside to the fifth floor gym in the Student Center on campus.
Despite the changes, Bertha believes the event turned out as well as it could have gone.
“The event went off without a hitch. It was perfect, way better than expected,” Bertha said. “For all of us, every chairperson on the committee, every person but one, this is their first Pioneer Community Day, so none of us really knew what to expect going into the day, but we knew we wanted a big, amazing event, and that’s what we did.”
Bertha has intentions to run for the USG vice-president position, soon to be vacated by the incumbent Gabe Dubin.
“We have great leaders in student government, and it is sad to see our current vice president, Gabe Dubin, not running again.” Bertha said. “He has a wealth of knowledge. I’ve learned a lot in just the first year I’ve been here.”
“I feel like I have a finger on the pulse of the University, and I want to make sure everyone knows that.”
Shelbie O’Hara and Jena Braill, both sophomore pre-med majors, help to prepare drywall to help refurbish a home for Habitat for Humanity as one of the many Pioneer Community Day activities.
