More Than a Visit is a new club under the Harriton Service League that allows its club members to witness the impact that they leave on the community. Similar to the mission of buildOn and the rest of HSL, More Than a Visit members offer their time and work to service organizations within the Main Line/Philadelphia community. But instead of visiting a location only once and not going back, MTAV spends 2-3 months at each of a select group of organizations. We were able to speak with Daseul Kim, co-founder of MTAV with Taylor Johnson, to learn more about this club.

The Harriton Banner: What inspired the idea behind More Than a Visit?

Daseul Kim: I was a member of buildOn, but what I realized was that I really enjoyed all the organizations that we were visiting, but I never liked [that we] left and never came back. I wanted to provide students with [a club] that they could go back to the same organization,  which [gave me the idea] for More Than a Visit.

HB: What is the first organization that MTAV is visiting?

DK: Our first project is at the Bryn Mawr Terrace, which is a senior care line. The students will be [engaging in] “Adopt a Grandparent Time.” This is basically when a student is assigned to an elderly member there, based on [similar] interests and personalities. The students will be visiting [Bryn Mawr Terrace] every other week for about an hour on Saturdays, and will potentially be making a friendly bond with them.

HB: Do you have any other organizations in mind for the rest of the year?

DK: Yeah, we are thinking about the food bank, but obviously since food drives are already present at Harriton, we are trying to think of new organizations. Since this is our very first year, we are trying to provide the members of the club with the opportunity to give [ideas] to the club. If they have an organization in mind, they can contribute that to the club.

HB: What are some difficulties that you are facing while starting a new club? I can only imagine how hard it would be to create a new club from scratch while there are so many pre-existing clubs at Harriton.

DK: I think the main difficulty that we are facing right now is just attracting members. But Mr. Fritz, who is the coordinator of HSL, was kind enough to let us be [a branch] under HSL so he can help us gain new members, and more people can be introduced to MTAV that are already in HSL. So HSL is really trying to help us!

HB: What are your plans for this club in the future?

DK: I hope we can [develop] a name for ourselves, and kind of stand out from the other community service clubs at Harriton, because we are different from BuildOn, HSL, and the other clubs at our school.

HB: How can people find you and sign up for More Than a Visit?

DK: You can sign up on Mr. Fritz’s eBoard, under HSL. If you click the More Than a Visit note, you can leave your name and email to be added to the mailing list for more information. You can also contact Taylor Johnson or me through our student emails. I hope more people join More Than a Visit!