Procrastinate at the Straight

Allison Baal Procrastinate at the Straight is a de-stressing event hosted by Cornell Minds Matter, the Willard Straight Resource Center, and the Student Union Board. It occurs every other Wednesday to give the Cornell community an opportunity to take a break and relax in the middle of the week. Each event is themed, and this month, Procrastinate at the Straight helped to kick off the new season with the theme “Falling for Fall.” The themed snack was a make-your-own candy apple bar. With hundreds of apples donated by the Cornell Orchards, volunteers helped to cut apples and distribute them to … Continue readingProcrastinate at the Straight

Collegetown Cleanup

Yibing “Shirley” Yao Collegetown Cleanup is a weekly event that happens every Sunday morning in Collegetown. In groups of 3 to 4 people, we walk around the Collegetown, chat about the funny things, prelims (LOL) or APO events that happen over the week and clean up the neighborhood with our own hands! It’s a relaxing and meaningful service event where we get to meet new people, explore our neighborhood and protect the local environment. Over the years, Collegetown Cleanup has grown to be pretty popular among the Gamma Chapter. As the chair for the last month, I met dozens of … Continue readingCollegetown Cleanup

Mental Health Awareness Week

Joanna Hua Mental Health Awareness Week is in full swing at Cornell, and Alpha Phi Omega – Gamma Chapter is always a supporter of mental health and taking care of yourself! This week, co-chaired by APO’s pledge master Joanna Hua, is taking place in a variety of ways. Lift Your Spirits Day is just one of many events during the week, in which different organizations collaborated to present mental health information in conjunction with their organizations’ goals. This intersectionality was explored by ~300 students, who went to tables and engaged in deep discussion about mental health, in exchange for a … Continue readingMental Health Awareness Week

Dilmun Hill Student Farms

Yasamin Bayley There is nothing better than finishing off your busy Wednesday than by digging around in some soft and healthy organic soil! No really, it’s such a great feeling. At Dilmun Hill, a student-run organic farm, there is so much digging to be done! When you walk through the gates, it might not look like much, but turn the corner to see beautiful vegetables patch and greenhouse, filled with carrots, celery, tomatoes, cabbage and kale just waiting to be harvested! At Dilmun Hill, volunteers (APO and otherwise) help take care of the crops, harvest, weed, and help get the … Continue readingDilmun Hill Student Farms

Maker Is In

Tiffany Yeh You know that big cream-colored building on the corner of the street? That one you sort of glance at every time you wait for the TCAT? The outside may seem plain but don’t let that fool you. From teaching kids about robots to building cities with LEGOS, Tompkins County Library has become the hub where knowledge and fun intertwine for families, kids, teens, and even college students like ourselves. Every weekend APO helps with Maker Is In, one of the many activities the library runs for its vast audience of kids. Maker Is In is essentially one hour … Continue readingMaker Is In

Fabulous Finger Knitting!

Kelly Stone Fabulous Finger Knitting is a weekly event that happens every Wednesday night in William Keeton House. It is a very fun, fulfilling service event in which we finger knit scarves from scratch and then weave them together into larger scarves and baby blankets. Over the years, the finger knitting service project has worked with several local charities and homeless shelters in the Ithaca community to donate these handmade scarves and blankets to those who need extra warmth in the winter. I especially enjoy finger knitting because the event has a really nice fellowship aspect to it. Since we … Continue readingFabulous Finger Knitting!

A New Service Brew: Coffee Sleeve Scripts

Julia Allen On Sunday afternoons in Goldman Smith Hall, the soft sound of markers against the paper and casual conversation drift from a sunlit classroom. We are decorating coffee sleeves with uplifting messages, puns, and doodles for Mandible Cafe. The Coffee Sleeve Scripts project started as a pledge project a few years ago and has grown to be a weekly project very popular amongst the Gamma Chapter. The project addresses mental health on Cornell’s campus, as hopefully, the decorated coffee sleeves are unexpected acts of kindness and encouragement to the customers at Mandibles before they head into Mann Library for … Continue readingA New Service Brew: Coffee Sleeve Scripts

Code-4-Kids

Ariel Fong Code-4-Kids is definitely my favorite service event in APO. I don’t say this just because I run the program, but when I volunteer at Belle Sherman Elementary School, I can really see the direct impact that my time has on the students and how much fun they are deriving from the experience. Code-4-Kids teaches courses in all grades K-5, but I especially love teaching the younger students. To some, it may seem so strange to teach computer science to elementary students, because how could a 10-year-old, let alone a 5-year-old, understand what an algorithm is. However, through my … Continue readingCode-4-Kids

Dunk Tank

Molly Smith On Friday, September 28, APO along with Delta Sigma Pi, Phi Alpha Delta, Phi Gamma Nu, Golden Key, Alpha Kappa Psi, and Phi Chi Theta hosted a dunk tank on Ho plaza! All of the money raised would go to the Children’s Hospital of Montefiore, our philanthropy cause. I had the great fortune of putting together and attending such an amazing event. The dunk tank arrived bright and early at 6 am. Ashley Kim and I were there to work with grounds to try to fill the dunk tank with water. The company told us it would take three hours … Continue readingDunk Tank

Mural Painting in the Commons

Rupal Khaitan Art is one of the few things I can proudly say that I grew up doing (probably alongside eating Indian food and watching Disney channel?) and seeing murals on practically every street here has made me happy I chose to come to a hippie town like Ithaca. Last year as a baby pledge I came to my first mural painting event during Fall Break and instantly loved it. The art itself requires very little skill, but my biggest challenge is getting over my fear of ladder. It’s also amazing if you can manage to get out of bed … Continue readingMural Painting in the Commons