A TRUE EDUCATION is more than the study of textbooks. At UNLV, it can include helping the homeless, creating a new fraternity, or working to dispel the misconceptions about different faiths.

The university creates opportunities for students to add to their classroom lessons through involvement in student organizations, with one supplementing the other. "I think the assumption is that campus groups are all fun and games rather than another place on campus where learning happens," says Katie Wilson, director of student involvement and activities.

UNLV officially recognizes more than 185 student organizations -- from sororities and fraternities to academic and professional clubs to service organizations. According to the office of student involvement, about a third of the student body participates in some sort of organized extracurricular activity

As her regular attendance at student events attests, Rebecca Mills, vice president for student life, believes in the educational purpose of student involvement. "We know that students, who are engaged in the life of a university are more likely to be satisfied, more likely to stay in college, and more likely to be successful in achieving academic goals," she says.

Getting students to do more than go to class and then go home is Wilson's job. Building awareness of UNLV's growing programs is a challenge, she says. To connect students with opportunities, the student involvement office recently launched a searchable website of organizations and opened an involvement information desk in the new student union.

Wilson likes to cite the work of Alexander Astin, a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He found the single most important factor in a student's personal and academic development is interaction with peers.

And the benefits of involvement don't end at graduation. "Campuses that provide opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom find that involved students are more likely to be engaged as alumni," Mills says. "That engagement has lasting effects as universities benefit greatly from the sort of advocacy that successful alumni can provide."

Case in point: Usman Malik, '02 BA Sociology. After founding a UNLV chapter of the Muslim Student Association and participating in sociology and interfaith student clubs, Malik went to work as a real estate agent. He's remained involved in university activities and continues to mentor students in the association he founded.

"The biology and sociology classes were great, but I really think that the majority of the life lessons I learned were through (student groups)." There, he says, he built leadership and management skills, implementing ideas he learned in the classroom. "It was like having a third major."

Wilson would like to see more students enrich their education through involvement as Malik did. The result is stronger graduates and a stronger community, she says. "It's kind of clich?d, but what you put in really is what you get out of your college experience."

Changing Perceptions

The Saturday afternoon meeting of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) begins like that of any other student group. Members drift in with coffee from Starbucks. They talk about weekend plans. Then the meeting begins and Islam takes center stage.

"We're doing a lot of positive things to get the message of Islam to students who don't understand it or are getting a misconstrued picture," says MSA President Nur Kausar, a senior in journalism and political science. "I feel that it's our responsibility to get the message out that we're not as the media portrays us to be."

MSA has been holding campus lectures and participating in interfaith forums to establish a Muslim presence on campus. Kausar believes campus is the perfect venue for presenting alternative views of Islam and Muslims. "That's part of the college experience," she says, "examining all sides of the story and making a decision for yourself."

Aslam Abdullah, director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, has participated in MSA forums. In November, he gave a campus lecture on the Quran and peace. "In these difficult times, when Muslims are seen as suspects and when people are profiled on the basis of their religion and the names they carry, then certainly these Muslim students have a greater challenge to interact with students and tell them what their faith is," he says.

Muslims are often characterized as violent, unpatriotic, and untrustworthy, Abdullah says. "I think the presence of the MSA on campus is clear proof that none of these things are true." The current MSA was founded at UNLV in 1997 after an earlier version of the organization disbanded. The MSA has about 15 active members, including undergraduate and graduate students, and more than 50 people on its e-mail list. The MSA encourages Muslim students to meet and talk about issues important in their lives.

"I think because we're on a college campus and we're in Las Vegas, it's good to have the MSA as a place for students to go and discuss things," Kausar says. "We're all students going through the same challenges. We're there to help each other."

Differences in religious interpretations and practices -- often between international and domestic students -- have split Muslim student organizations at other universities into conservative and liberal factions. At UNLV MSA meetings, women may be seen wearing veils or tank tops. Kausar tries to keep the group inclusive.

"Being involved in MSA has also shown me how diverse Islam is," says Kausar, who was born in Pakistan but raised in Las Vegas since she was 4. "I've been involved with Las Vegas's Middle Eastern Muslims virtually all my life. At UNLV, I started meeting black Muslims, Asian Muslims, and converts."

Usman Malik, '01 BA sociology, was a founding member of MSA and continues to help the organization. After Sept. 11, people were apprehensive of Islam, he says. "They just didn't know what Islam was about. They needed to put a face to this name, like, OK, that's what Muslims look like."

In response, the MSA took a more active and visible role on campus. And Malik changed, too, adopting a more traditionally Muslim appearance. He grew a beard and shaved his head -- which he says "freaked my mom out" -- so his fellow students could identify and know him as a Muslim.

The MSA is planning more efforts to engage the campus community by bringing in Muslim speakers, scholars, entertainers, and musicians. Kausar says even small events -- such as watching and discussing a popular film about Islam or holding social mixers with Muslims and nonMuslims -- increase religious understanding. Understanding, she says, can begin by simply asking questions, providing answers, and approaching one another as fellow students.

Serving A Purpose

Preparing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches might not be most people's idea of a higher education. But on a Friday afternoon in the UNLV dining commons, there they were -- about 30 UNLV students, packing sack lunches and making the most of their university experience. As volunteers in the Rebel Service Council, the students meet at least once a week to feed the homeless.

"It is good to be able to help people, even a little bit," says Felicia Ford, a freshman in interior architecture, as she fills lunch sacks. "This is a reminder to those of us who live comfortable lives that homelessness is a real problem."

The program is just one aspect of Rebel Service Council. Its volunteers have worked with Catholic Charities, Opportunity Village, Habitat for Humanity, and the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Jacob Murdock, program coordinator for the council, says that about 500 students interact with the council each semester. The organization has an open membership, allowing all students to participate in any activity. Murdock says council service helps students connect to their community and realize how they can help.

But service is about more than simply pitching in. Ford got involved with the council because it seemed like a worthwhile way to meet good people. She wasn't sure what to expect but figured it had to be better than watching television at home. Then she visited a homeless shelter.

"I was surprised to see so many children and families there. It was a real eye-opener," Ford says.

By facilitating discussion, program leaders challenge students' knowledge of social problems and ensure that participants view in person issues they may have only studied in books. "I think service also helps students develop their organizational skills, whether they're planning the activities or just helping," Murdock says.

A unique aspect of the Meals on Wheels program is that it is funded in part by students donating meals from their campus dining plans. Once the 250 lunches are prepared, volunteers travel in two vans from campus to the Salvation Army shelter. As they pass Huntridge Circle Park, a conflict point in the city of Las Vegas' relationship with the homeless, the conversation turns from campus activities to social issues. The homeless community becomes more visible as the vans near the shelter.

"You have an idea about homelessness from what you've heard. You see homeless people here or there. But when you see homelessness in multitude, it's so surprising," says Tahnee Padilla, an architecture major.

The students arrive and pass out the lunches, which are happily accepted. Some volunteers spend time talking with the people at the shelter. They are thanked.

For sophomore Leonard Evans, the experience renews his connection to activities he did through his church in Cincinnati. "I've done stuff like this back home. It means a lot just to help people, to have an impact on a person's life," Evans says. "To change somebody's outlook is important."

Such personal experiences can do a lot to changes perceptions, Evans says. "There's a stereotype about the homeless -- that they're angry and dangerous. But they're real people," he says. "They say 'Thank you' and 'God bless you.' They're a lot nicer than some other people I know."

As they return to campus, the students discuss their experience. Recognizing how the trip has changed her view of the homeless, Padilla says, "I wish more people could see this." The students all say they have learned something unexpected and plan to come again. The rest of the conversation on the way back to campus is different, a little heavier. It slowly returns to classes, homework, and evening plans.

Places to Belong

Jose Lainez and Yoko Agemura took different paths to UNLV. One comes from California and the other from across the Pacific Ocean. Both found through student organizations a sense of belonging. Lainez, a sophomore in criminal justice, looked for a group to join as soon as he registered. "In high school I was always in clubs. But the organizations that I saw on campus, they didn't fit what I was looking for," Lainez says.

So, Lainez started his own. He had heard about a multicultural fraternity from some students in an Arizona chapter. A new organization would offer Lainez an opportunity to lead. "We got to mold what we'd like a fraternity to be and to break the multicultural stereotype that fraternities are only for one kind of person," he says. Lainez is now the president of Omega Delta Phi (ODP), officially recognized in May as a campus organization.

Establishing a student organization can be tricky; different types of groups have different requirements. Sports clubs must deal with liability and safety concerns, and Greek organizations need to be recognized by their national affiliate. That's when student government and the Division of Student Life can help.

Katie Wilson, director of student involvement and activities, says there are organizations to fit most students' interests. "But if there's not, there's a way to create a space that matches what they're looking for."

Lainez says he wanted to start ODP to challenge the perception of fraternities. "We're known as frat boys and what not. The whole stereotype is that all we do is party," he says. "We're showing the other face of what a fraternity does."

Like many Greek organizations, ODP requires members to do community service. Last semester its nine members averaged 55 hours of service -- nearly twice what was required for membership, Lainez says. The fraternity works with children at local middle schools to help them succeed academically and eventually enter college.

For its members, Lainez says, the organization offers positive peer pressure. "Having this organization and trying to stay active pressures me to get good grades."

While Lainez was creating a place for himself on campus, Agemura, an international student studying hotel management, was still trying to make Las Vegas home. The city is far different from her native Tokyo. For starters, there's all that neon. "In Tokyo the lights are from the buildings. But here the lights are all advertisements and hotels."

Agemura looked for a way to acclimate herself to Las Vegas and American culture. "I knew international students, but I didn't have any American student friends," Agemura explains.

Her search led to UNLV Buddies. The culturalmentoring program matches international students with American students by common interests. The program currently has 78 student members.

The result of the match is a cultural awakening for many students, says Dyane Hill, a junior in chemistry and coordinator of the Buddies program. "Reading about another place is one thing -- when someone is recounting their firsthand experiences in front of you, it has a different impact," he says.

Hill is also president of the International Club. He trusts in the power of cross-cultural experiences to change people's outlooks. "I'm a really loud advocate of diversity. Everyone can learn from a different culture. The most rewarding part for me is seeing the friendships grow."

Agemura was partnered with a local student and their conversation often focused on Japanese culture and language. "She has introduced me to many friends, so I know a lot more people now compared to a few months ago."

Like Lainez, she used student groups to find her place to belong.