Are you looking for a club to join? Friends to make? A way to get a bunch of volunteer hours while having fun? If so, Spartan Youth Service is the perfect place for you!
Spartan Youth Service, or SYS, is known as the largest club at Memorial. With close to 100 members and over 20 board members, SYS’s impact can be seen throughout Memorial. From Spirit Day, an annual event where Memorial students volunteer at feeder elementary schools for a day, to Penny Wars, the homecoming fundraiser that raises money for our school community, SYS members are dedicated to their work everywhere they go.
SYS meets every Wednesday after school in the Wisconsin Center, but that’s just the beginning. SYS is made up of five committees, each with two or three co-chairs, one treasurer, three secretaries, two communications officers, two vice-presidents, three presidents, and two advisors. The five committees focus on different parts of community service: Paws Fur a Cause focuses on animals, Helping Hands helps those in need, Green Team supports the environment, Youth 4 Youth works with elementary and middle schools, and Spartan Spirit takes care of everything and anything to do with VPM.
Events are set up by co-chairs and local organizations and posted on social media and Google Classroom for students to sign up. Every month, SYS as a whole does a project during their meeting, and committees will also do committee projects once a month. These are opportunities for students to earn volunteer hours at school and during SYS meetings.
Board members spend hours outside of school working behind the scenes to keep SYS going, with monthly board member meetings to plan events, projects, and fundraisers. Although SYS is sponsored by the Sauk Trails Optimist Club, they aim to fundraise thousands of dollars each year outside of that through Penny Wars, share nights with local restaurants, grants, and other fundraisers like movie nights, bake sales, and Valentine’s Day tulip sales.
I may be biased, but SYS is one of the most welcoming communities you’ll find at VPM. Whether you have time after school on a Wednesday to come to a meeting, during lunch to sell tickets for a movie night, or on a weekend afternoon to volunteer at an animal shelter, there are countless ways to get involved. Follow our Instagram @vpm.sys, join our Google Classroom with code 2qw4ttr, and fill out the registration form on Google Classroom to officially become a member. See you at a meeting or event!
