The UW-Whitewater Student
Optimist Club was organized and officially chartered in September 1994. Thirty-two energetic students met late at
night and made the commitment in just three meetings to combine their skills
and willing hearts to serve kids and the local community by forming the first
College Student Optimist Club in the world.
Over the years, the UW-W Student
Optimist Club has planned and implemented projects with local schools, the Whitewater
Food Pantry, the Whitewater Soup Kitchen, made fleece blankets for a local
sheriff’s department, and consistently worked with the American Red
Cross—planning one of the largest blood drives in the community. In addition, the student organization partners
with their sponsor club—the UW-Whitewater Community Optimist Club in helping to
implement Breakfast with Santa and the Easter Egg Hunt on a annual basis, as
well as occasionally helping with their parent club’s fund raising efforts.
From the beginning, the group has
contributed time and talent to the Southern Wisconsin (SWIS) Optimist District,
attending and presenting at conferences, and assisting with hospitality. During the 2012 Optimist International
Convention in Milwaukee, members of the student club helped to write and
produce the daily convention newsletter, train convention attendees in social
media, and present a session on a recent service-learning trip to Ecuador.
In the past 13 years of their 18-year
tenure, the club has planned and implemented 8 service trips, including to
Jamaica; Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; Belize; and Ecuador. Ten of the club’s members are now working
with 10 community members to plan an extensive service-learning trip to Burkina
Faso, Africa in January 2014.
—Kim Adams, Faculty Advisor
March 30, 2013
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