Coming to the University, six freshman students had a dream to create an inclusive space for students to get hands-on experience with animals. These students created the Program for Animal Welfare through Service.
PAWS is a student organization geared toward creating a welcoming environment for students of any major to find animal-related volunteer opportunities.
During a College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences new student event, Addison Dining, freshman in ACES, met a few other girls who were passionate about animal welfare. After a bit of talking, they came together to form their own club.
According to Dining, about half of the board members met at the ACES new student welcome event and the rest were brought into the group by Shelby Patterson, president of PAWS and freshman in ACES.
Patterson originally approached the other board members with the idea of the club after realizing there was a lack of involvement options in the animal sciences department. She was hoping that the girls could create opportunities for students to work within the animal industry.
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“We’re all looking to get hands-on experience and opportunities to learn about animals, and it was hard to find,” Patterson said. “There were not a lot of accessible opportunities for everyone, so we thought that was a void that we wanted to fill. So we got a room together and filled it.”
After a few brainstorming meetings, the girls came up with the name PAWS, began assigning roles and registered their organization. In October, the board took charge and began sharing word of its new organization and hosting its first meetings.
The group provides members with multiple volunteer opportunities and trips throughout the semester. Merle Morgan, PAWS secretary and freshman in ACES, loves seeing the executive board’s work pay off when all the members get involved.
“We have worked so hard these past couple months getting these opportunities for them to participate in,” Morgan said. “Seeing them show up and actually be there with us has been so joyful.”
The organization usually travels with 10-15 members on its outings. Their most recent trip was a visit to a local horse sanctuary, where members helped clean out the horse stalls.
When planning volunteer opportunities, the executive members organize them into “pathways.” The pathways are companion animals/shelters, large animals/livestock and wildlife/exotics. According to Ava Meyer, PAWS treasurer and freshman in ACES, these pathways allow members to select opportunities geared towards their specific interests.
“I think it’s really cool how we have different pathways, so some people can come and do exotic and wildlife, some people can be companion and some people can do large animals,” Meyer said.
These pathways emphasize the amount of work each board member is putting in behind the scenes. Coordinating with local organizations is just one of the board’s many responsibilities, but it continues to put in the time and effort to preserve PAWS’ main goal of improving animal welfare.
Through all their planning efforts, the board continues to ensure the work they do is centered around the animals, which is Dining’s favorite part.
“I love getting to work with animals of all different species, from exotics to dogs and cats to large animals,” Dining said. “It’s just great to advocate for them because they can’t speak for themselves, and that’s also one of our main goals of the club.”
The group has come a long way since the start of the school year, and its ambition has proven to be successful. However, according to Dining, they couldn’t have achieved any of this without the support from their sponsor, other professors and especially their members.
When Patterson first approached her peers with a simple idea for a club, they had no clue what to expect from it. They especially weren’t expecting to find a community and group of friends through PAWS.
Margie Deneen, PAWS membership director and freshman in ACES, explained that the best part of the organization is meeting so many new people and making new connections.
“I feel like I’ve met more people through PAWS than I ever could have met through any other RSO,” Deneen said. “When you’re working together for a common goal, that’s the fastest way to connect with someone. Even when we were first starting PAWS, that’s why we got along so well, because we all had the same ambition.”
Throughout the first semester, the board members spent countless hours behind the scenes to make their vision come true. Starting an RSO on top of navigating their first semester of college proved to be a lot of work for the group.
But according to Alexis Brookman, PAWS event coordinator and freshman in ACES, the work is worth it in the end. The board members hope their efforts today will create a space that continues to grow and leave a lasting impact.
“It’s not the end of the four years, and then we’re just done, and that was it,” Brookman said. “It’s continuing to build a community that will hopefully continue to stay as good as it is now and continue to bring opportunities to incoming students.”
With three years left at the University, the board members have plenty of time to continue to grow PAWS. As they navigate their leadership roles, the board is learning that the future is full of possibilities.
While this young board still has plenty of time to develop its organization, they hope that one day it can pass it on to a new group of ambitious and dedicated animal lovers.
“I really want PAWS to have a legacy,” Deneen said. “I don’t want it to be something that we just start. I want it to be something that is passed down, and I want to make history.”
