FEATURES

Nirali Patel

By Trisha Studt
Students for Community Service

Starting college can be stressful on most students. Starting college at the age of 16 would seem to be even more stressful.

For one student, age was not an issue. Nirali Patel came to Fresno State in the fall of 2000 at the age of 16. Even at her young age Nirali quickly demonstrated intelligence, leadership skills and dedication to the campus and the community. She has a mind and a heart that naturally find ways to help her fellow students and community members. Fortunately these characteristics brought Nirali to the Students for Community Office.

Nirali started helping with the campus blood drives when she arrived on campus. The importance of blood donations were not lost on the biology major who hopes to attend medical school in the fall of 2004.

She has been instrumental in helping to inform and motivate students across the campus about the importance of donating blood. She has also recruited other students to help her distribute information and get the word out about the campus blood drives. Since Nirali has been involved, blood donations have steadily increased on campus.

Nirali's service has not stopped there. She started assisting with the annual Kid's Day effort three years ago and has been the student leader for the past two years. This fund raiser for Children's Hospital Central California engages hundreds of students each year. Through her efforts the campus raised more than $15,000 dollars for Children's Hospital in 2003, a record for Fresno State . Kids Day 2004 will take place on Tuesday, March 16th and Nirali is already making plans to top last year's total.

In addition to the programs she leads in the Students for Community Service office, Nirali is a member of several student clubs on campus including Cadeus, Sigma Alpha Lambda, BACCHUS/SDI and Circle K. She spends her spare time volunteering at hospitals and helping with other community events.

The campus community has been fortunate to have Nirali leading the efforts of community involvement and for her work to develop a new wave of student leaders who will begin to take charge of the programs Nirali has built up over the past three-and-a-half years.

“Spotlight on Service” is a monthly Journal feature that highlights the good works of the campus community. Faculty and staff members are encouraged to submit information (up to 150 words) about community service-learning projects in which they and their students are involved. Include name, major (if student), department (if faculty or staff member), what the service involves, where and what the impact to the community is. Digital photographs are welcome. Send information to journal@csufresno.edu.