The UTEP Miner Volunteer Corps, an arm of the Center for Civic Engagement, launched Thursday.
The new organization will focus on creating a pool of ready volunteers for larger-scale community events.
“We at UTEP believe that at our very core we are about giving back to the community,” said Gary Edens, vice-president of student affairs. “It’s a really exciting initiative because you’re on call.”
Edens, a UTEP alumnus, said that it was his student volunteer experiences that impacted his life and pulled him into the university community.
Community members and non-profits will be able to contact the Center for Civic Engagement to request Corps members for projects on and off campus.
“We want to build the Miner Volunteer Corps so that every time a non-profit or a community organization asks us [for help] we can say ‘they’re on their way, they’re ready and on call,’” said Azuri Gonzalez, director of the center for civic engagement.
Azuri said she expects the program to flourish and anticipates exponential growth in the inaugural group of students.
“From our founding nearly 100 years ago, this university has really always been about this community, this region,” said President Diana Natalicio during a speech at the launch.
Natalicio shared the history of UTEP, starting as a mining school meant to drive economic development in the region.
Through the years, a majority of UTEP students have come directly out of the community and that has been a driving factor to education amongst young people in El Paso, Natalicio said.
For more information about the Miner Volunteer Corp, visit the Center for Civic Engagement’s website at utep.edu/cce. Read the full article about the MVC in the Sept. 17 issue of The Prospector.
S. David Ramirez may be reached at [email protected].
