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MARCH 31-APRIL 13, 2008 EDITION

PRINT EDITION HEADLINES: Benedictine University Unity Fair; Global Studies Forum; Possible new major; Special treatment for athletes?; April Fool's pranks; Baseball and Softball updates.

PHOTO GALLERY

SCAP Awards: The Society of Communication Arts Professionals held its first annual undergraduate confererence. Students enjoy a special St. Patrick's Day dinner. Photos by Katie Buell.

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NEWS

VITA: an Excellent opportunity for the BU Community
By: Ahmed Shareef

Most students at Benedictine might have heard about the VITA program offered at our school somewhere, but don’t know what it really is. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program is a service that is sponsored and provided through the IRS. The program is offered to any interested students in the community and the students can receive a one hour course credit if they choose to do so.

The goal of the VITA program is to help people become prepared to file their tax returns. The volunteers who are working at the site help these low-income taxpayers with their tax returns and show them benefits that they can receive through the tax code. The program is ideal for low-income families and it helps senior citizens and many others as well. The course program starts in January with an information session and continues with multi-training sessions through February, then the students eventually take the test for the program if they want to start helping at the site.

BU’s VITA site is located in downtown Naperville at the Nichols library, where all the participants work for a total of five Saturday mornings. The people who are eligible through the program are determined by their income; the students and volunteers ask for appropriate documents and also interview them to determine if they are eligible.

In the 2008 semester for the program which is going on currently, there are roughly 14 students that are working through the program. 2007 was the first year the program was offered as a course credit and before that the experience was an independent study for many years. Most students who join the program are business majors, but it truly is an ideal experience for anyone who is interested in learning about the business environment and how taxes are filed. Usually students can find flyers and notes about the program in November-December around the campus, but if you’re truly interested Scholl is the best place to visit to find information relating to the program. Faculty member, Mr. Henschel, is teaching the course; for questions contact him or Dr. Gahala for more details about the VITA program. Mr. Henschel refers to the program “as a practical application of theories and concepts”.

Students are very positive and have amazing feedback when they look back at the experience. Jason Racine, who was an accounting major graduate at Benedictine in 2007, was quoted in the November issue of the ICPAS journal Insight, “I definitely gained a perspective and quality to make tax filers feel comfortable. It gave me insight into the real world and into getting things done.”

This opportunity truly relates a great service-learning experience, a business environment, and a worker-client atmosphere. The program looks great on any resume and there should be no reason to students over-looking this ever growing opportunity.

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