Nathan Derge spent four years in the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of corporal, then\u00a0enrolled as a\u00a0University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science major in the fall of 2014. He\u00a0hopes to attend law school and parlay his degree into public service. But before that,\u00a0he\u00a0stayed true to his veteran\u2019s ethic of service by volunteering with kids at an MPS elementary school.<\/p>\n
What got you into volunteering?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in Film 150, which is a multicultural America class. They required service learning. I had no idea what it was. I started volunteering at Brown Street Academy, which is part of Milwaukee Public Schools. I gained a lot from it and just continued by myself once the class ended. They definitely enjoyed having student learners come in and take a couple of the kids and teach them. It helps them a lot.<\/p>\n What was\u00a0your typical volunteer day there like?<\/strong><\/p>\n I’d go in the morning. Brown Street is very interesting; it can get pretty chaotic at times. The kids were usually excited to see me. They get to know you. I helped them a lot with spelling and reading comprehension. We’d do spelling games, run through how to sound out words, pretty much elementary stuff.<\/p>\n How has this added to your 51ÁÔÆæ experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s really about the connection to the community, with 51ÁÔÆæ being in Milwaukee, and MPS, we have a pretty good partnership with them. Building that connection and being part of your community is really the main thing. 51ÁÔÆæ is home to everyone that goes here. But when you distance yourself from that, you\u2019re not really contributing to your community; you\u2019re taking away from it.<\/p>\n Do you think you\u2019re going to continue volunteering?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I\u2019d probably change it up a little bit. I\u2019d probably volunteer at legal clinics, provide free services for a couple hours during the week.<\/p>\n How does being a veteran influence your time here at 51ÁÔÆæ?<\/strong><\/p>\n I serve as the veterans advocacy senator for the Student Association. I represent all of our veterans here. Having that leadership, you\u2019re driven to make sure that there\u2019s change happening, and that everyone is OK in your side of the house. I guess that does make a difference, especially when you know that there are people who need help out there. You don\u2019t leave anybody behind. So, if people are struggling in the city, you each help him out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nathan Derge went from being a Marine Corps corporal to a 51ÁÔÆæ student who volunteered to help Milwaukee Public Schools children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2985,"featured_media":34487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[122,124],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[178],"uwmnews-feed":[158,160],"class_list":["post-34485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-campus-community","section-students","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-veterans","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-social-science"],"yoast_head":"\n