Former National Honor Society adviser Mike Pistacchi worked with the NHS to hold Harker’s fourth annual Service Fair, where students could sign up to volunteer at any of the organizations present, on Nov. 12. This year, it hosted 30 organizations, compared with less than 10 when the fair first began four years ago.

“The exciting thing about the fair is that there are organizations that represent a huge diversity of ways to do service,” Pistacchi said. “It really doesn’t matter where your skills or interests lie; there will be a group that meets those interests.”

This year, rather than going directly to the fair, freshmen and sophomores attended an assembly in place of advisory to hear from Pistacchi and Jason Lin (10) about the meaning of service and their experiences with it.

During his speech at the assembly, Jason discussed a service project he did over the summer, in which he worked with a group of friends to organize a concert for charity.

“[Ms. Kerry Enzensperger] approached me to speak about it, and she told me that I could spread my message,” he said. “I thought that if I could just get a few more kids to also get their friends to do it, we can make a lot more change.”

Unlike past years, the majority of booths were hosted by students. During the fair, 24 students represented either outside organizations or organizations they had started.

Sophomore Krishay Mukhija founded Suits2Empower two years ago as a way for underprivileged students to gain access to formal clothing for speech and debate.

“It’s great to find more volunteers who can help grow the organization, like we need help with inventory management; we need help with the web development,” he said.

The fair also included on-campus clubs such as Key Club and Interact, and students from each of these groups represented them at the fair.

One of the other organizations present was Red Cross, which provided a new way to participate in the non-profit than through the club.

“I signed up to be on the business side of the Red Cross organization because currently I volunteer as a part of the disaster committee of Red Cross,” Suman Mohanty (10) said. “I think it would be really fun to help out on the fundraising side as well.”

Stephanie Xiao (12), the president of Interact, hosted a booth alongside other members in order to expand the club.

“It’s not about the hours with us because we do so much community service,” she said. “There’s service in everything, so you could be working at a social event, or you could also go to a homeless shelter and serve meals, or you could also go to Second Harvest Food Bank. If you have that passion for service, you’ll find what you want to do.”

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Nilisha Baid

Service Fair organizer Mike Pistacchi speaks at a service-themed assembly held prior to the fourth annual service fair on Nov. 12. Freshmen and sophomores attended the assembly, while upperclassmen could go to advisory and then the fair.