This week, the Honors Program held its annual used book sale to fund scholarships for students within the program. Every year, the program hosts the book sale in order to help students who need textbooks and provide students the opportunity to read novels for entertainment without paying a bookstore price.
Throughout the week, students in the Honors Program were asked to volunteer at the book sale, helping customers find items and check out. For Honor student Emily Tady, this event served as her first introduction to what volunteering within the Honors Program looks like.
“[The Honors Program] have been doing [the sale] for several years now, but I think it started with the idea that all college students need textbooks, and a lot of the time they’re expensive,” said Tady. “The Honors Program only charges three dollars for a hardcover textbook and two dollars for a softcover, which is a lot better than the $135 I spent on a textbook this semester. It’s a nice service.”
While many of the books sold were for school purposes, such as textbooks, there were plenty of fiction and nonfiction books for students interested in casual reading outside of class. In addition to physical copies of books, the sale also featured CDs, DVDs and audiobooks.
Each shift the Honors students worked lasted a minimum of one hour, which allowed for the students to volunteer whenever they had downtime in their schedule. During the shifts, the volunteers were responsible for helping customers find specific items and working the cash register. During the slower shifts they spent their time sorting through books and keeping items in the right places.
“This morning … I was out there for an hour before going to class,” said Tady. “I re-sorted some of the books to make sure the categories were correct, like making sure there wasn’t a nonfiction book with the fiction books. I also alphabetized some of them.”
The sale doubles as a fundraiser for the program’s scholarships that they give to Honor students who participate in extracurricular activities, such as volunteering at the book sale.
“The profits of the sale actually go to different causes within the Honors Program, and multiple scholarships come out of it. The Honor students who volunteer to work it get put into a drawing to get the scholarship,” said Tady.
With the many events that the Honors Program organizes, there are plenty of opportunities for students within the program to get involved. With enrollment for the spring semester approaching, the program wants to find more students who are willing to take on the extra workload.
“The Honors Program is open to anyone, although there are some requirements. Any student of [the college] can apply,” said Tady. “There’s the Honors Lounge which is a quiet place to study, and little perks like free coffee and tea. It’s a very good social group if you’re new; it’s a great way to make friends and I’m really glad that I made the decision to join.”
Story by Alieu Jagne