Resources for Alumni Volunteers

Buckeye Book Community

As we have for the past couple years, we again invite you to participate in our Buckeye Book Community program!

More on Buckeye Book Community

Each summer all first year students complete their first college assignment by participating in the Buckeye Book Community (BBC). First year students are given a selected book during orientation.  They are asked to read the book before they return to campus and be prepared to discuss and analyze what they have read. The experience culminates with a visit from the featured author. The BBC connects the first-year class through a shared experience and introduces the expectation that college students cultivate a life of learning both in and outside the classroom.  Upper class students, staff and faculty are also encouraged to read the book, and we want to offer this book opportunity to you all, as part of our Buckeye Community as well!  This is a great way to connect to the current Ohio State students and cultivate a life-long learning and shared experience with your group.

More on The Book

The book for the 2017-2018 year is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.  A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. For more information on the Buckeye Book Community, please check out www.fye.osu.edu/bbc.html

More on Participating

Should your group decide to participate, we can provide up to 15 copies of Just Mercy.   We would ask that you distribute the books to those in your group that would like to read and share this experience and then hold a book discussion in the coming months with those in your group that read the book.  There are plenty of opportunities to set up volunteer experiences for your group in connection with the book and we may also be able to provide those interested tickets to attend the author lecture on campus or a link to watch the live-stream of the author visit on October 26th at 7:30pm EST.

If you are interested, please fill out the form below, and we will get your order of books delivered to you by Tuesday, August 15, 2017.