Published: January 26, 2008 08:03 pm      

Bobcat project builds town-gown rapport

San Marcos — Many Texas State University students every year since 2003 wake up early on a Saturday morning and head out to perform the city's largest community service event.

This year, more than 3,000 students are expected to blanket the city on April 5 for the sixth annual Bobcat Build.

The organization's officers, who work year round, have been searching for job sites citywide and they announced 10 major service projects on Friday at City Hall's council chambers.

“The primary goal is to support beautification of San Marcos,” said City Councilman Chris Jones, who stood in for the ill Mayor Susan Narvaiz at the press conference. “This year we're taking Bobcat Build to the next level. We'll focus less on work sites and more on larger projects to have a greater impact in our community.”

Major project sites include, among others, the courthouse square, Hays County Area Food Bank, San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District campuses, Spring Lake, Aquarena Center and the Sunrise Village Retirement Community.

But even with a focus on bigger projects, Bobcat Build officers still expect to approve approximately 100 job sites before April 5.

“We have a great group of community leaders who are helping us identify and develop job sites...,” Erin Jines, Bobcat Build Planning Organization student director, said in a news release.

Volunteers on April 5 will most likely do labor intensive jobs, such as painting, landscaping, cleaning or helping to check all the light bulbs for the Sights and Sounds of Christmas.

Volunteers will be joined by non-student teams as well, such as the Parents Association.

“Parents Association members love assisting at Bobcat Build,” Marian Loep, the association's coordinator, said in a Bobcat Build news release. “It connect them to the university in a positive way, and they have fun at the kick-off where they assist with registration and tool distribution.”

Many students, community members and city and university officials attended Friday's event.

Denise Trauth, Texas State University president, said it was appropriate the unveiling of the 10 major projects coincided with a week that saw the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

“Every year this is just a wonderful series of events that goes on between the university and the community — more importantly events that are meaningful, that convey a sense of shared community and mutual responsibility and mutual respect that were just at the heart of Dr. King's message.”

She added: “One of the things that Dr. King said is that all of us are prone to judge success by things like the size of our salary or the size of our cars or kind of office that we have, but the real proof of success in life is the quality of our service, the quality of our relationships with other human beings — Bobcat Build is the kind of service relationship that Dr. King is talking about.”

Jones praised all those involved in Bobcat Build.

“You have satisfied countless families that needed a fresh coat of paint and with each brush stroke brought hope of a better tomorrow by simply brightening up their part of San Marcos,” he said. “You have brought Texas State students out to meet many families that have lived here for generations, but have never been on campus. You have done more with this one program to bind us together than any other single program that I know of.”

Job site applications are due Feb. 1 and are available at City Hall and at www.txstate.edu/community.

The deadline for organizations, students and community members who wish to participate in Bobcat Build are encouraged to turn in their volunteer participation form by Feb. 15.