By Camille Cox | Staff Writer
Steppin’ Out is a recurring opportunity for Baylor students to connect within the community and volunteer through service. Fall 2021 Steppin’ Out will take place Saturday.
Held once a semester and hosted by Baylor Missions and Public Life, Steppin’ Out brings individuals and groups together to serve the Waco community for one day. Students can volunteer individually or with a group, such as a club or a Greek organization.
“Volunteers will be serving at various homes, churches, schools and other nonprofits throughout the Greater Waco area on this day of service,” Baylor Missions and Public Life said.
Orange County, Calif., junior Anna Shipcott and Mansfield senior Ethan Arredondo work alongside one another as the fall 2021 Steppin’ Out co-directors.
Arredondo explained the various tasks that students will be completing, such as home improvement work.
“They do stuff like painting homes, doing gardening work, doing park clean-ups — all sorts of various activities at homes for community members in need,” Arredondo said. “They also do work in churches and in schools.”
Shipcott said she decided to get involved with Steppin’ Out before attending Baylor.
“When I toured Baylor, I heard about Steppin’ Out, and I love volunteering and service, so it was something that piqued my interest,” Shipcott said. “Then, second semester of my freshman year, they put out an announcement asking for people to join the planning committee, so I joined.”
Similarly, Arredondo said he began getting involved with Steppin’ Out after hearing about the program on his tour and at Late Night.
“I did a couple of site visits, and I really enjoyed meeting with homeowners and getting to see all the work get done after the day of Steppin’ Out, so it felt natural for me to take on more leadership,” Arredondo said.
Last academic year, Baylor chose to hold Steppin’ Out virtually due to the pandemic, renaming the event as “Steppin’ In Challenge.” Students volunteered digitally to raise awareness for service within the Waco community.
Arredondo said he is excited for the event to be back in person and to see the impact it can bring to the community.
“This year, I’m excited about getting our numbers back up because since COVID-19, it’s been virtual, and then last spring, we had it kind of in person again, but it was a smaller-scale event, so working our way up to get it back to what it used to be,” Arredondo said. “This semester, we are doing about 35 sites, and usually in the past, it’s been closer to about 75, so trying to work our way back to that is something that I’m excited about.”
Shipcott said this will be the biggest Steppin’ Out event since fall 2019.
“We’ll be able to have a much bigger impact in the Waco community than we’ve been able to have in the past two years,” Shipcott said.
Registration for individuals and groups has closed for fall 2021 Steppin’ Out. However, Arredondo said he encourages people still looking to get involved to email steppinout@baylor.edu to see how they can help out.
