Tarleton Serves is an organization focused on giving back to the community and serving as a student body. Their organization recently held executive board applications and introduced their new team. The new team was selected in September and began meeting at the beginning of October.

Their new executive board includes; Mark Woods as the Student Advisor, Devin Hughes as the President, Jessica Grimshaw as the Assistant Director of Public Relations, Megan Atkinson as the Assistant Director of Outreach and Germaine Jones as the Assistant Director of Volunteer Recruitment.

Woods is a senior communication studies major, Hughes is a junior agriculture communications major, Grimshaw is a senior general business major, Atkinson is a senior marketing major, and Jones is a senior industrial technology major.

Tarleton Serves is led by Graduate Advisor, Ericka Key. Tarleton Serves holds events such as, Alternative Spring Break, Service Saturdays, 9/11 National Day of Service and Holly Jolly. This year they will also be holding an event in November for Veteran’s Day.

“Serving as the President of Tarleton Serves is such a fulfilling position because I get to work with an amazing executive team and get to lead service projects all over the community,” Hughes said. “I am most excited to prepare for Alternative Spring Break and execute that awesome service event in the spring.”

I am beyond excited to work with our amazing new executive team. This team is built of leaders who bring so much to the table and are truly excited to serve not only Tarleton State University, but the Stephenville community as well,” Hughes said.

In the upcoming year, the new executive board hopes to grow their volunteer team.

“We would like to see an overall increase in volunteers at each event we hold,” Grimshaw said.

The they hope to increase the number of volunteers to better serve Tarleton State University and the overall Stephenville Community.

Tarleton Serves has an exciting project in the works, so keep a lookout for more details soon. They will be announcing the project on their social media. Their twitter and Instagram are @TarletonServes.

Another one of their upcoming events is writing appreciation letters to the veterans of the Stephenville community, in honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, 2020. The details have yet to be finalized on this project, but it is sure to be one that makes the veterans’ day. The executive board is also looking forward to Alternative Spring Break.

“Although things may look different this year due to COVID-19, we are still excited to work with a great group of volunteers to help those in need,” Grimshaw said.

“I am beyond excited to work with our amazing new executive team. This team is built of leaders who bring so much to the table and are truly excited to serve not only Tarleton State University, but the Stephenville community as well,” Hughes said.

The details of the upcoming Alternative Spring Break trip are still being worked on and when they are finalized, the information will also be posted to their social media.

There’s no way to know what ASB will look like this year, due to the recent changes to the spring schedule that was released by TSU.

“It is my hope that we are allowed to travel, regardless of near or far, and that some sort of service project will happen in order to continue the legacy of giving back to other communities who desperately need help,” Hughes said.

“We want to make sure we have the best trip possible while still being safe, and as the trip gets closer, we will announce the destination on our social media,” Grimshaw said.

Woods spoke about why he joined Tarleton Serves when he came to campus over three years ago.

“When I first stepped foot on campus in 2017, Tarleton Serves was the first organization I wanted to join. I have met some of my best friends and had the opportunity to give back to a community that has given our university so much. I have loved getting to witness the joy of serving while working alongside the student body,” Woods said.

In many ways Tarleton Serves and Tarleton Round up are similar, however, Tarleton Serves focuses more on hosting several smaller service projects throughout the school year, while Tarleton Round Up focuses on a large-scale service project once a year.

“Tarleton Serves and Tarleton Round Up do rely on each other greatly throughout the year for new ideas and overall engagement for both organizations,” Hughes said.

“While we are not synonymous to Tarleton Round Up, we are closely related. We work in the same office with the same people and our projects are a very collaborative and collectively driven,” Woods said.