Organized by the student group Oles to Action, the students have been tabling outside the cafeteria for a “Sponsor A Chicken” program, including chicken coloring book pages and trivia about Latino Agripreneurs.

This weekend, the students are sponsoring a charity rave dance for REC (I proposed we figure out some Latin-dance classes and fiestas with the Apripreneurs in the future).

Oles to Action is a student-led organization that seeks to inform the St. Olaf student body of current social issues in the global community, facilitating a bridge of support between Oles and organizations which are working with these issues. Coordinators Thando and Alyssa told me they became involved with service at St. Olaf through  Haiti relief efforts last year. After attending a film screening about the Invisible Children of Uganda at St. Olaf this fall, they decided to form an organization to  keep on spreading student awareness and support to other efforts, international and at their backdoor. We’re thrilled they chose to work with Rural Enterprise Center this term.

Oles to Action represents one of the great resources Northfield has in its colleges. As a recent Carleton grad, I resonate with the desire of many students to get out of the  respective campus “bubbles” and participate in the local and international community. There are challenges to this, of course, as students are most often temporary residents here and do not always get to dig in very deeply, or commit sufficient time towards understanding and dismantling the structural issues that perpetuate injustice, inequality, and myriad other issues in our communities. But the opportunities for real student engagement with Northfield community issues just continue to deepen, expand, and grow.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to stick around Northfield and dive into this work I could only barely dip my toes into as an overloaded Carleton student. I am overjoyed to work with enthusiastic students like these, who want to put action in education and serve this community that helps make our colleges so great.