Hundreds turn out to support the community for MTU’s biggest public service tradition
On Oct. 17, Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI) hosted Make a Difference Day. It is Michigan Tech’s largest volunteer project of the year. Started in 2004, the event is a celebration of community through service and helping others. Student volunteers often number over 500, with them dispersing to around 50 service sites. These sites range from manual labor, such as small building projects and maintenance, to sewing and non-technical tasks. Volunteers assemble at 9 a.m. in the MUB, and are finished with their tasks by 1 p.m.
Michigan Tech offers an event posting site called GivePulse, which allows students and other volunteers to post about their impact on the event, including the hours spent and a brief description of the work done. This year the event recorded 657 volunteer positions, 537 posted accounts, and 2,137 service hours. Volunteers filed their own accounts of the day afterwards.
Those accounts show the variety of the sites, Bella Farrel was one person who volunteered for four hours. Farrel wrote that her group “weeded around the rocks of the Hancock Labyrinth, and raked the paths… [and] trimmed some of the bushes” around the outer ring. Zachary Utz, another volunteer who logged five hours with Sigma Phi Epsilon, wrote that he “had a great time raking leaves with Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers at Chassell Cemetery. Rylan Feierabend, with Beta Sigma Theta, “helped level trails, remove rocks, and plant grass at Swedetown ski trails.” Emma Wahlberg, with Alpha Sigma Tau, “pulled invasive plants along hiking trails with the Keweenaw Land Trust.”
Organizations and nonprofits often participate in the event, one such being Michigan Tech’s Thompson Scholars Program. The Coordinator for the Thompson Scholars Program, Tucker Nielsen, said they were first involved with leading volunteers during Make a Difference Day in 2024. Since then, they have seen the number of Thompson volunteers for the event quadruple, from 11 in 2024 to 38 in 2026.
Nielsen is highly involved with volunteering on-campus and reminded students, “If you want to make a difference beyond Make a Difference Day, there are always people in your community that need help.”
If volunteering and making a difference for local communities sounds interesting to you, contact the Michigan Tech Student Leadership and Involvement at huskyhelpers@mtu.edu or call at 906-487-1963.
