UNLV Outreach Effort Boasts Impressive Beginning

After the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) launched a new outreach effort at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), last spring, the team already is boasting of 50 new guests since April. The team averages two to three new guests per week, and even though the CARP members are full-time students at UNLV, each has a goal to reach out to at least three to seven persons per day.

The team started out with a handful of Generation Peace Academy (GPA) participants helping to launch the program, but has evolved to be run by a core group of CARP members. In a short time the organization already has made a big impact on campus as well as the community. For the students, it’s not just about the outreach effort; it’s about creating a lasting impact on the university and the city.

Recently CARP was featured in the UNLV student paper The Rebel Yell for its work with Shine City, another organization committed to improving Las Vegas. The service project focused on cleaning up the Mount Charleston community, about 40 minutes outside Las Vegas, but Akira Watanabe, who was interviewed by the paper, stressed, “Cleaning the city is one thing, but we need to clean our hearts as well.” The article applauded CARP and Shine City not only for their efforts to physically clean the city but also for their desire to create leaders with a strong desire and heart to help others.

The CARP team now has a comfortable place within the university, but hopes to do more work in the community as well. “We also want to get leverage from our service projects to raise our visibility locally and grow our impact,” said a local CARP member, as quoted in a recent report about the program. The Shine City Project was a big step in that direction as it led to valuable connections with the town Advisory Board, who then introduced the team to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Clark County Fire Chief Bertral Washington. These kinds of events help to build awareness in the community that hopefully can be strengthened and deepened over time.

Now that CARP is an officially registered student organization at UNLV, the students have even more outreach opportunities, including having a booth at the student orientation fair. With the fall semester already underway, we are excited to see what progress comes for a group of students and advisors who already have proved their tremendous potential.