OSU Votes will host its first Community Carnival Tuesday from 3-5 p.m. in the Cartoon Room of the Ohio Union to help students connect with campus and Columbus organizations that foster civic engagement. Credit: Nathan Mader | Lantern Reporter
The Office of Student Life’s group OSU Votes will host its first Community Carnival Tuesday to provide students with civic engagement opportunities through Ohio State and Columbus organizations.
Sam Evans, a graduate advisor for OSU Votes and second-year master’s student in public administration, said the group has mainly focused on providing the resources and tools to help students vote in every election, but recently has been expanding to promote civic engagement opportunities — such as volunteering or interning within the community.
Evans said the Community Carnival will feature 16 different community and university organizations — mostly nonprofits and local government agencies — for students to engage with.
“A large part of the reason we want people to develop these skills, or to learn how to become civically engaged citizens, is to take those skills off of our campus and have an impact in the greater Columbus area, or like, the rest of the country,” Evans said.
Evans said each organization was asked to provide a direct civic engagement action students can commit to —such as volunteering, job, internship and training opportunities.
“It’s possible that people might come with different actions for students to kind of walk away from their table and be able to go and do in their own time,” Evans said. “This is really trying to create a way that we’re not just showing, ‘Oh, look at these organizations that do important work,’ but trying to provide students with direct contacts to very specific actionable pieces of work that they can do moving forward.”
Evans said the Community Carnival will be in an open-house style for students to attend at any point and will be set up like a table fair for students to interact with the organizations they are interested in.
Evans said OSU Votes will also have its own tables to help students with voter registration and opportunities to win prizes through raffles and trivia.
“We’ve got some light catering options. So, there will be some drinks, and there will be some cookies and snacks and stuff,” Evans said. “People are welcome to come, get something to eat, interact with an organization that sounds of interest to them and play some games.”
One organization attending the Community Carnival is the SOAR Initiative, a group founded in 2019 by Ohio State students to promote safe drug-use strategies through on-the-ground and virtual support and harm reduction efforts, according to its website.
Tonja Catron, a harm reduction outreach worker for the SOAR Initiative, said a reason she got involved in this type of work is because of her own experiences needing support.
“Once upon a time, I was a person who used drugs and there was nobody like me, or like the SOAR, or anything around, so I know what that feels like to not have that support,” Catron said. “As soon as I learned that there was a way that I could support people without forcing them to go to treatment — which most people don’t want to go to treatment, they shouldn’t have to — then I got really involved in harm reduction. And I also got tired of watching my friends die senselessly to the war on drugs.”
Catron said she is representing the SOAR Initiative at the Community Carnival to spread awareness and provide opportunities for students to join their community committees.
“We know there is a population of college kids that are experimenting with substances, and if we can be there we can maybe teach them how to be safe and educate. I feel like that all falls under civic duty,” Catron said. “Keeping the community safe, educating, spreading awareness.”
The Ohio Environmental Council, Franklin County Local Government and St. Stephen’s Community House are some of the other organizations hosted by the carnival, according to the event’s website.
Catron said voting and civic engagement are important because they’re how people can create meaningful change within their communities.
“You guys are the future. Like, you’re the ones that are gonna lead, and I think that having a good sense of community with that leadership is going to make you guys even better leaders,” Catron said.
Not as much thought or time is often put into civic engagement during the spring because most elections and OSU Votes initiatives occur in the fall, which is why Evans said the Community Carnival serves as a great opportunity to remind students to be mindful of their opportunities year-round.
“I think it’s just very important for people to understand that civic engagement takes many forms, and especially for students that might not see themselves as particularly civically engaged,” Evans said.
Registration for the event can be found on the Leadership & Community Engagement website, which will be held from 3-5 p.m. in the Cartoon Room at the Ohio Union.
“We’re very happy for this event to be open to anyone involved on campus, even if it’s something that would be a new thing for them to explore,” Evans said.
