It has been nearly two and half months since SLU began its 200-Years-in-One Challenge. The challenge involves logging 200 years’ worth of service over the course of the year. The intention was to encourage people to give back to the community, whether they be SLU affiliated or not.

When SLU announced its ambitious project at the beginning of the Fall semester many were skeptical of its prospects for success. However, this didn’t shake the optimism of Bobby Wassel, assistant director of the Center for Service and Community Engagement. “Saint Louis University has a long history of volunteerism and service,” Wassel had said. “In addition to our campus community, we get alumni, parents and others from the area serving to help us celebrate. I have no doubt we will succeed”.

As the clock stands today, the University is far from achieving its goal. It is nearly a fifth of the way through the year and the Service Clock is only a tenth of its way to completion. At the time of writing this article, the Service Clock stood at 21 years, 4 months, 24 days, and 23 hours.

The ambitious undertaking was always a longshot and it has always been possible that it might not succeed. However, this has been an opportunity for SLU students and alumni to show the pride they hold for SLU as an institution that has always been interested in supporting the community. It is still the early days of the challenge and certainly within SLU’s power to turn this slow start around.