President:

Olivia Phillips

Vice President:
Brook Ferede

Questions, answered by President Olivia Phillips

What is the focus of your organization?

SPARK stands for strengthening pride and reinforcing kindness. Our goal is to bring kindness and pride to our school and community. In SPARK we focus on a number of different topics each semester. They range from open-mindedness, healthy relationships, service projects, self- love and identity, leisure and play, and so much more! We really focus on what the group wants to do more of.

When did your organization start on our campus? How many members do you currently have?

Our organization began in the fall of 2016. We have 15 regularly at our weekly meetings, however we reach 30 on days when we have a larger number of drop-ins. It is easy to join SPARK, and we are looking to grow.

How often do you meet? What offices do you offer within the chapter?

We meet every Thursday at 5pm in the CSU Heritage room. Every other Thursday we have executive meetings following our meeting at 6pm. On the days we do not have executive meetings, as a group we go around campus to put up positive post-it notes on the bathroom mirrors. We have a large board this semester. We have a President, 2 Vice Presidents, 2 Service Chair members, 2 Campus Program members, 1 Treasurer and 1 Social Media chair. The executive team works so hard, I am so proud of them as their president.

What are your goals?

Frist, All of the executive team wants to see our group double in size. That is a goal we will work on all semester. Second, we want to broaden our reach to a larger population. We want to make people feel our love throughout the community and MNSU. Our goals are growing and we already have checked off a large number of them last semester! We cannot wait to check more off our list!

What impact do you want to have on society/individuals?

The impact that we want to see on a broad spectrum is to strengthen pride and reinforce kindness all around. In a personal way, we want our meetings to be a space that people are excited to come back to each week. The word that comes to mind is unity- we know that we as a group want to unite people. Humans need love and kindness to flourish and grow. We seek to help people and ourselves find this through the fun activities and meaningful conversations that we have week to week.

What is the greatest achievement your organization has received?

We have the honor to be getting RSO of the month this semester! That is so wonderful to us! We can’t wait to see what the months to come bring!

Has your organization created awareness? And for what?

We have started on our mission to make a difference in or area. Homeless shelters, animal shelters have been two of our main focuses in the community thus far. In the future we will continue to designate meetings to bring awareness about each location’s in terms of what is needed in donations, planning for the future and other ways that we as a group and individuals can help. We feel strongly that service projects can make a difference. Our first service project was making catnip and dog toys for the local animal shelter in Mankato! I am not sure who loved it more, the cats and dogs on the receiving end or the students making the toys!

Do you have events on campus?

We table in the CSU multiple times in the semester where we have activities based on our theme that we will be talking about at our Thursday meeting. We love to do positive post-it notes in the bathrooms as well. We are having a few really awesome new events this semester. For example, we will be having a Valentines Day bake sale to raise money for CADA in Mankato. There is a lot in store for us this semester and we are very receptive and willing to work on new ideas!

How do you join?

Any MNSU student can join! Just check out our Facebook page, SPARK MNSU, for more information. Additionally, Stop by our next meeting and any of us would love to talk more about what we do!

Why should someone want to join your organization?

This group is all about love, growth, sharing knowledge, friends, fun and laughter. It is a feel good group! In the time I have been involved with SPARK, I have found so much personal happiness and strength as each meeting passes. The group brings together a diverse, beautiful bunch. We all need something to look forward to during these busy weeks of class and work. The meetings are never meant to be stressful. We have a lot of fun. Come one, come all. We will do our best to make everyone who walks in our room feel welcome!