Veishea at Iowa State is one of the ten best college festivals in the nation, according to collegemagazine.com. Before Veishea week even starts, students have the chance to begin the celebration and help their community in a variety of ways.

Veishea Service Day is March 29 and takes place all over Ames. The event includes a wide range of service projects for ISU students to do to help the Ames community.

“Veishea Service Day is a great way for students to give back to the community and university,” said Karl KernsCQ, Veishea president and senior in animal science.

Some of this year’s events include picking up trash, building trails, volunteering at an animal shelter and helping preschoolers at Ames Community Preschool learn to read.

“This year, we really worked on getting as many projects as we could. This year, I think we have 15 or 16 different projects,” said Addison KistlerCQ, campus community involvement co-chairwoman with Veishea and senior in accounting. “Last year, there were under 10 [projects], so that was our main goal … to have that variety and attract a wider range of people.”

Kistler said that she believes having more events makes this year’s event more unique than last year. Both Kistler and Kerns also had a similar vision for this year’s Veishea Service Day.

“I would say just making that tie between the community and the students would be the big thing,” Kistler said. “The community definitely appreciates seeing Iowa State students going out there and serving.”

Kerns said that being part of one community aspect is a big part of Veishea Service Day as well.

The word Veishea is an acronym used to describe all the original colleges of Iowa State. It stands for Veterinary, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics and Agriculture. During Veishea, ISU students get the chance to celebrate all that their school is about.

“We have such a great campus, such a great school here, and I think it’s just mainly celebrating the past as well as the present, some of the great traditions as well as what we have going on now,” Kistler said.

While Veishea is a great way to celebrate traditions and events at Iowa State, Kistler believes Veishea Service Day, otherwise known as Stash the Trash, provides a way to celebrate the Ames community as well.

“With service day, you’re able to celebrate being a community member of Ames as well,” Kistler said.

Aside from the goal of tying campus and community together, Kistler mentioned a more quantifiable goal that Veishea has for this year’s service day.

“Earlier in the semester, our goal was 500 people to sign up and attend, and we’re close to that,” Kistler said. “We’re in the 450 range right now, so we’re really excited about that.”

Veishea Service Day events are each three hours long, going from 9 a.m. to noon or from 1 to 4 p.m. If the goal of 500 volunteers is reached, 1,500 service hours will be completed during this one event.

“The student body is thoughtful and wanting to help out,” Kerns said. “It’s a great day to all get out and be a part of the one community aspect and work side by side.”

Kerns also said they are still taking students who want to help out March 29. Students can go to veishea.iastate.edu to register and see a listing of volunteer opportunities. Sign-up for open projects can also be registered March 29 at Reiman Gardens.

Kistler said that while many people don’t think of service events as fun things to do, Veishea Service Day is a unique bonding experience that you may not get in normal social scenes.

“You get the opportunity to help out the community,” Kistler said. “Whether that’s directly through helping people or indirectly through picking up trash and cleaning up the environment, it gives you that chance to make a difference.”