OBU Students Serve Community During Annual Serve Shawnee Event

Oklahoma Baptist University students volunteer throughout the Shawnee community during the annual Serve Shawnee event on Aug. 24.

About 450 Oklahoma Baptist University students, including freshmen, transfers, returning students and OBU employees, spent the morning of Aug. 24 serving the Shawnee community during the University’s annual Serve Shawnee event.

Held the Monday before the fall semester begins, Serve Shawnee is a long-standing OBU tradition that emphasizes Christlike service and community engagement. Groups volunteered at more than 18 locations across Shawnee and the surrounding area, including Hope Pregnancy Center, Cargo Ranch, Community Renewal and Primrose Retirement Center.

Students completed a variety of service projects, including yard work, cleaning, making care packages and connecting with residents at retirement centers. Returning students and staff led student teams as they worked alongside community organizations.

Oklahoma Baptist University students work together on service projects as part of the University’s annual Serve Shawnee event.

“I think this brings the community together,” said Kyron Nash, a freshman business management major who is also a member of the OBU track team and was helping at the Community Market of Pottawatomie County. “I like it that after we go home, we will be able to think, ‘I got to help people in need today.’ It’s a great feeling.”

Launched more than 20 years ago, Serve Shawnee helps students live out OBU’s mission to engage the world with servant leadership while giving new students an opportunity to become acquainted with the community they will call home during the academic year.

This year’s Serve Shawnee co-chairs are Aaron Rother, a senior majoring in theology and ministry, and Faith Holbrook, a senior majoring in early childhood education.

“Serve Shawnee is not only a significant way to impact our community, but it is also significant in its impact on our incoming students,” Rother said. “It provides brand new students a way to encounter their new community, make closer connections with their peers as they serve together and ultimately to see firsthand what it can look like to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

Holbrook remembers the significance of the event from her own experience as a freshman.

“As a freshman, I remember seeing this event as important because it helped me get to know my new community and show them that I was grateful for them,” Holbrook said.

Oklahoma Baptist University Student teams complete service projects at more than 18 locations across Shawnee and the surrounding area during Serve Shawnee.

Serve Shawnee provides students with an opportunity to begin the academic year by serving others, building relationships with fellow students and connecting with the Shawnee community.

“Doing this last year as a freshman just gave me the opportunity to serve,” said Caidence Christopher, a sophomore theology and ministry major who is a Welcome Week Worker, or Tri-W, this year. “As Christians, we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus and that’s exactly what we get to do. Not only that, but it just showed me how much OBU cares for its community. They want to help and want to give back. It’s one of the first things they have us do when we are on campus and I just think that it is very meaningful. It brought me purpose and excitement for the year and it was something that I wanted to continue to do.”