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Honors College Student Goes Above and Beyond through Volunteering  

Volunteering has benefits to all parties, especially at the college level.

While Millersville University’s Honors College typically asks its students to complete 10 service hours during the academic year, student Kyle Nazarchuk completed 87 hours volunteering at Penn Manor High School.  

“We ask honors students to complete six service events, usually about 10 hours, during the academic year. Kyle definitely went above and beyond during the past two years in the varied roles he has taken on while volunteering with Penn Manor High School,” says Dr. Elizabeth Thyrum, director of the Honors Colleges. 

Nazarchuk is originally from Lebanon, Pennsylvania and is heading into his third year at Millersville University as a meteorology major. At a young age, Nazarchuk learned the value of volunteering when he joined the 4-H Friends club in Lebanon Country. He continued to volunteer his time through high school as a tutor.  

“Volunteering has benefits to all parties, especially at the college level,” Nazarchuk said. For Nazarchuk, volunteering is a stress reliever and a break from his studies. He further added, “Being able to see that you are making a change in others’ lives is always a joy in its own right.” 

One of the many photos taken by Kyle Nazarchuk while volunteering at Penn Manor High School.

Nazarchuk began volunteering at PMHS due to his desire to assist at a high school and its proximity to Roddy/Caputo Hall, where most of his classes take place. At the high school, he volunteers as a tutor, a team manager and an athletic photographer, where he uses skills he has been developing since high school.  

In order to take photos for PMHS athletics throughout the whole academic year, Nazarchuk attended games and practices for the men’s football, basketball and lacrosse teams. After each event, he would edit the photos as soon as that night or the next day. From there, he would upload the photos to a website he manages for each player to download any images they would like.  

“My main philosophy was to get as many good quality images that I could and have them available to the athletes to lock in the memories,” Nazarchuk said, “I wanted to make sure they had that one image they can look back to and be able to recall the entire season.” 

Additionally, Nazarchuk had even more duties as a team manager and team tutor for the men’s lacrosse team. As a manager, he would complete tasks to make practices run smoothly for the coaches and players, such as helping with equipment and setting up the team’s audio and video equipment for filming. As a team tutor, Nazarchuk would set aside office hours where anyone could join a Zoom call for his help in any subject.  

Nazarchuk is already set to continue helping the PMHS football team in the fall. He hopes to return as an assistant to the high school’s video production classes once again, after his initial effort was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Nazarchuk gives a lot of credit to Millersville University and the Honors College for having a strong impact on him. “Being at Millersville has been a blast and has given me the opportunities to push myself academically and especially socially,” he said. “For the Honors College specifically, they have helped push me further in the realm of academics and leadership.” 

Interested in joining the Honors College? Click here  

 

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