Recruiting (Party) In the UNO

Part of my role at Project Homecoming is to write biweekly blog posts for the website sharing and reflecting on the things I do as Village Manager. For my blog post due tomorrow, I got a little creative and wanted to share what I submitted to be posted on the website.

For those of you who miss the adorable Miley Cyrus as much as I do, here is a version of her famous song "Party in the USA" from which I replaced the words with my own, in an attempt to share the adventures Valentina and I experienced recruiting at the University of New Orleans Tuesday afternoon.(if you are not familiar with the tune and want to get to know it before reading on, click here)

We hopped out of the car at UNO with a dream and a cardigan

Welcome to the land of college kids, what are they interested in?

Set up our table, here we are for the first time

Look to my right and I see the Project Homecoming sign

This is all so crazy, so many tables to go see

Laying out the brochures and hanging up the banner

So much pressure and we're nervous

That's when the UNO coordinator turned on the radio

And the sign up sheet blew away

And the sign up sheet blew away

And the sign up sheet blew away

So I said "Hello!", to students walking by

"Have you heard of Project Homecoming?"

Our brochures are right here

Sign up for our mailing list right here

Volunteer for a few days or a whole year

And you'll learn so many neat things!

Yeah! It's a recruiting party in the UNO!

Yeah! It's a recruiting party in the UNO!

Clubs looking for service projects

Asking me so many questions now

Like "What makes Project Homecoming so great?"

And "I can get involved, how?"

It's exciting to see so much interest around me

Recruiting is so fun, you'd think it was a party

Wearing our blue and yellow

Students are getting the memo

Talking about all the homes that we're working on

From the interior and out to the lawn

That's when the UNO coordinator dropped our favorite tune

And the sign up sheet blew away

And the sign up sheet blew away 

And the sign up sheet blew away

So I said "Hello!", to students walking by

"Have you heard of Project Homecoming?"

Our brochures are right here

Sign up for our mailing list right here

Be an Americorps or Long Term Volunteer 

So many options to choose

Yeah! It's a recruiting party in the UNO!

Yeah! It's a recruiting party in the UNO!

Working it at the UNO Service Fair...notice Valentina really is wearing a cardigan!

Lesson from the Journey: Saying "Hello!" enthusiastically to students passing by might make you feel like an idiot but actually gets students to approach your table and get a conversation started.