During the darkest months of the year, students, staff and faculty members at Dakota State University are being invited to let their light shine.
As the fall semester drew to a close, the university launched its "Be Great Over Break" campaign, encouraging members of the Trojan family to document acts of service and post them on social media using the hashtag #DSUBeGreat.
Bryn Hart, event assistant, and her husband Chris immediately jumped at the opportunity to participate. Their decision grew out of gratitude.
"My husband and I, on a number of occasions, have said we were so blessed to be working through this pandemic," she said.
Chris is employed at Persona. They are relatively new to the community, having relocated from California two years ago.
Serving others has been an integral part of their relationship since they started dating. The question for them was not whether they would celebrate the holiday season by giving, but how they would celebrate by giving. They opted to adopt a family through a Facebook group organized by Toni Harmdierks and Susan Glodt.
"I did hold off before we officially adopted a family, but once we did, it was full steam ahead," Hart said.
The family they adopted had to make a difficult choice as the holidays approached. The lease was up on the apartment in which they lived. The single mom told her children they could not afford both Christmas and a move to a larger apartment; they had to choose. The children chose to sacrifice Christmas.
The family's biography on the Facebook page resonated with the Harts, so they stepped in to ensure the family had both a larger apartment and Christmas. Hart admitted the initial phone call was a little difficult.
"I can be a little socially awkward sometimes," she said. However, once she and her husband learned what the family needed, that discomfort evaporated.
"We had a blast because we don't have kids ourselves," Hart commented. "We went a little overboard."
Part of the fun was discovering family members had interests that were similar to their own. Her husband, for example, likes video games and Hart herself is a musician. The gifts they chose enabled them to share their own passions, increasing the joy.
The Harts chose to purchase gifts not only for the children but for the mother as well.
"She's going through a weight loss journey, so we bought her some clothes," Hart said. They also gave her a Michael's gift card, a gift that truly came from the heart since Hart enjoys crafting, too.
When they finished shopping and wrapping the gifts, Hart posted a picture of their tree with the gifts piled underneath on the Trojans Helping Trojans employee Facebook page with the hashtag. She wrote, "All the presents for my adopted family are wrapped and ready to take to them on Friday. Selfishly, this has brought Chris and me so much joy! We are doing this again!"
In talking about the experience before Christmas, she was grateful for the opportunity.
"I feel like it is important to help, especially in the community," Hart said.
The "Be Great Over Break" social media campaign was launched as a prelude to Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, according to Amanda Parpart, director of student engagement and leadership. Normally, DSU sponsors a day of service in the fall, but was unable to do so this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee felt members of the Trojan community probably engaged in service regardless of whether an event was organized or not.
"DSU has always been good at the service side of things," Parpart said.
Because the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day will not be honored as a holiday this year, the committee felt it was important to recognize it in other ways. This led to the idea of creating a media presentation showing acts of service which could be streamed on television monitors around campus.
This, in turn, led to the idea of encouraging members of the Trojan community to take advantage of the long break between finals and spring semester to do good and to share their activities with a hashtag. These posts would provide the raw material for the media presentation in January.
A campus announcement quoted King as saying, "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve," and listed two dozen suggestions for socially distanced service, including shoveling a driveway without charging and giving an Angel Tree gift. Leading up to Christmas, employees were sharing their activities on the employee Facebook page.
"We had a lot of staff and faculty adopt families and do the local Angel Tree and donate to the Food Pantry," Parpart said.
Students were not similarly posting on their social media platforms. Parpart wasn't surprised. She said her message to students when they left campus was clear.
"My message to students was to take this time to connect with your family and friends," she said.
However, she also believes many are probably helping others without taking the time to post their activities on social media.
"I hope that with COVID and all that, there are more thoughts of others than in the past," Parpart said, noting the pandemic has created greater need and therefore more opportunities to help others. "I don't think anyone will have to look far to find a way to give back and share the spirit of the season."
