A couple dozen students had decided to put their Saturday morning to good use and helped a variety of organizations within the city of Oshkosh on Oct. 16. The volunteers were divided between multiple busses where they were delivered to different sites to work.

My group was composed of six people and we were dropped off at the EAA Aviation Museum, a big tourist attraction for Oshkosh as well as the hosting location of the Oshkosh airshow, a national event.

Within the six-person group, we were again divided into two groups: one that worked to clean the offices and another that cleaned the displays; I was lucky enough to clean the displays. I was able to observe the history of aviation and Oshkosh, as well as get to see others enjoy it due to my work.

Being able to observe the history of something is an integral part of the volunteer process, as is having the ability to appreciate an area’s culture through its past and envelope yourself in it.

Although I’m not terribly infatuated with aviation, it was amazing to see how dedicated some people are and how far they have gone to create such an amazing museum around it, located less than a 15-minute drive from campus.

Although the work was menial and mostly cleaning, it helped to secure a part of history for people to enjoy. If this work and volunteer ethic is passed down, we can ensure that both our culture and history can be enjoyed and understood by future generations.

If you were a fellow volunteer this weekend, I applaud you for your work. If you helped organize Hands on Oshkosh, I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to help the community. If you are reading this and did not previously know about volunteer opportunities around campus, I urge you to invest time to find out about them, and help in whatever way you can.