Students at UAM Start the School Year with Solidarity

To kick off the new school year at many of the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi’s (UAM) campuses, freshmen students weren’t just buying books and settling into their new classes, they were serving the community around the campus in important ways. As part of a program started this year by UAM’s social responsibility department called Trote Solidário, or “Starting with Solidarity,” incoming and returning students, faculty and staff join together to start the school years with service in their specific academic areas. Projects ranged from organization of food and clothing drives, voluntary blood donation and work with disability rights groups in the community.

Specifically, more than 115 people from UAM participated in a part of this initiative called Refeição do Bem, or “Food for Good,” preparing and delivering individual dinners to over 1,000 members of the Coliseu community, a slum near to the UAM campus in Vila Olímpia. Each participant devoted an average of five hours to the project and performed various tasks, like message writing, preparing and assembling dishes and delivering food to the community residents.

“In Brazilian universities, as in many other higher education institutions around the world, hazing new students is unfortunately very common,” said Cristiane Alperstedt, Director of Academic Quality and Social Responsibility at UAM. “This is a better alternative.”

“Students need to interact with the community in order to be aware of their duties as citizens, and to have their attitudes positively changed,” Alperstedt said. “Being Here for Good really is the purpose of a higher education institution.”

Want to learn more about social responsibility at the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi? Contact Cristiane Alperstedt at calperstedt@anhembi.br.