On March 28, an event in Pulitzer Hall highlighted the vital role of service in the education and experiences of Columbia undergraduates.

“Celebrating Service: Get Inspired to Give Back” — hosted by the Undergraduate Community Initiative, in collaboration with Community Impact (CI) — brought attendees together to hear how service has changed the lives of Columbians from the 1960s to the present, and to enjoy food and camaraderie while learning about volunteer opportunities with campus organizations.

The program kicked off with a speech by Roger Lehecka CC’67, GSAS’74, the interim dean of Undergraduate Student Life and a co-founder of The Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center (DDC). Lehecka gave attendees context for the events of 1963, when he first arrived on campus — “Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech had just happened, John F. Kennedy was still alive, all of the Federal Civil Rights Acts hadn’t yet happened, there was no war yet in Vietnam” — and shared how the words of College Dean David B. Truman would ultimately change his life.

“He said, ‘Every one of you are privileged to be here, and that puts an obligation on you to share that privilege in some way with others who do not have it,’” Lehecka recalled. “And because of the enthusiasm the College had for service, things happened. We did things.”

In his sophomore year, Lehecka, who had planned to be a mathematician, wrote the proposal for what ultimately became the DDC.

“[The DDC] made high school students more ambitious about their futures; it changed them, and it changed us, too,” he said. “It changed the hierarchy of my values, and showed me that I had ambitions beyond what mathematicians usually have. My hope is that service becomes part of your life in a way that it changes you.”

The student panel discussion was moderated by CI executive director Richard Caldwell Harrill and featured Glynis O’Meara CC’25, Gabriel Spratt GS’25 and Jamila Atif BC’25. O’Meara, an urban studies major, is the general body coordinator of Columbia’s Housing Equity Project; Spratt, a major in anthropology and sustainable development, and head chef at CI, was still in uniform from a shift serving food at a nearby soup kitchen. Atif, who majors in urban studies and sociology, is a coordinator at the DDC.

The panelists spoke of the influence that service has had on their lives. “Community Impact has not only shaped my time at Columbia, but has left an impression on me that shapes the way I see the future,” Spratt said. “Service work has enriched my experience at Columbia and my experience as a New Yorker,” O’Meara said. “I’ve had very strong role models [at the DDC] — especially [executive director] Sasha Wells — who have shown me to do what you love, have confidence in yourself and believe in yourself,” Atif said.

During the reception, attendees had lunch and received information about volunteering from staffed tables representing Community Impact, the Housing Equity Project and the DDC, as well as The Remedy Project and Project Sunshine.

At a time of uncertainty on campus and in the world, student volunteers said they were grateful for the hope and clarity their service experiences had provided them. “I have realized that if I’m not doing a job where I can see a hands-on impact from the choices that I’m making — if I’m not tangibly making people’s lives better — I’m going to be unsatisfied with my life,” O’Meara said.

“Now more than ever, our youth need support and guidance,” Atif said. “They need to feel like there’s somebody behind them or next to them — not necessarily holding their hands, but showing them that things are possible. Change is still possible. Anything is possible.”