By: Alyssa James
Staff Writer

On Friday, June 16, the term will come to a close and all students will enter into summer vacation. While some students will travel to different parts of the country or world to spend their time off, many have no idea what they will spend the next three months doing. Good news for those students is that there is a multitude of opportunities to partake in during the summer months.
One option is to spend summer doing volunteer work and actively supporting and helping the community. There is a wide variety of volunteer jobs that one can choose from.

Meals on Wheels is looking for people who want to donate their time to help seniors in Dallas, Falls City, and the Rickreall Area. With three different choices on how to serve this community — packaging, delivering, or serving the food — there is an option for anyone who has a desire to help. To get more information or to become a Meals on Wheels volunteer, contact Carolyn Gagznos-Dillon at 503-623-6232.

For an opportunity that is more global, The Borgen Project has many openings for volunteers and internships. The Borgen Project is a nonprofit national campaign that works towards bringing awareness to our nation’s leaders about poverty all around the globe. They have multiple telecommute internships available, namely PR/marketing, HR, writer, journalism, and political affairs. Along with that, they have multiple National Volunteer Opportunities. For all the information on their avenues for helping, check out borgenproject.org.

There are other volunteer opportunities around, such as volunteering as a Gilbert House Summer Camp Counselor. At the Gilbert House in Salem, a volunteer will be required to go alongside the families present to show the fun learning experiences around the museum. For more volunteer opportunities, a helpful resource is volunteermatch.org. It lists many of the places that students can volunteer at throughout this summer.

Volunteering is a fulfilling way to spend one’s summer, but another opportunity will be happening in August that no one will want to miss. The moon will completely block the sun for a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 spanning from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. This eclipse is a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime event that people from all over the world are travelling just to witness.

Many people in North and South America will be able to see a partial solar eclipse that day; however, Monmouth will be in the line of totality, meaning for two minutes straight, people will be able to watch the moon fully cover the sun. The totality of the eclipse is predicted to start at 10:16 a.m.

There are many events happening surrounding this event. One is the Indy Goes Dark Eclipse Festival in Independence. From Thursday, Aug. 17 to Monday, Aug. 21 there will be many activities happening based around the eclipse, from a movie playing in the park thursday night to various cover bands playing during the evenings. There will be a Brewfest on Saturday, which will cost $15 to enter.

Not only that, but there will be inflatables, science demonstrations and more for children. There is registration at independencegoesdark.com for camping and to reserve a spot. Since a total eclipse has not happened in the Pacific Northwest since 1979, spots are filling up fast.

Another celebration for the eclipse will take place in Monmouth. At the Main Street Park Amphitheater, there will be a free concert on Sunday night, Aug. 20. Pigs on the Wing, a Pink Floyd tribute band, will be playing a show. They will perform The Dark Side of the Moon entirely, as well as other Pink Floyd songs, during the concert.

At Western, there will be a special Eclipse Plenary Session on Thursday, June 1. A variety of students will present on the topic of solar eclipses. Later on in June 6, Richard Berry, M.Sc. will present on how to get the most from the experience of the solar eclipse. This will take place in the Instructional Technology Center, Room 205, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each person who attends this will receive a pair of Eclipse glasses that will be able to be used on the day of the eclipse.

For those who feel their summers may be less-than-satisfactory, there are many opportunities to take advantage of this summer. Whether it’s donating one’s time and presence to volunteer in order to help the community, or taking the time to celebrate the solar eclipse, this summer is full of possibilities and moments that are worth grabbing ahold of in order to create lasting memories.

Contact the author at ajames16@mail.wou.edu