Marquette students hoping to continue in the tradition of being the difference after graduation will have their golden opportunity to do so on Friday.

The Rev. Patrick Dorsey, assistant director of University Ministry, is providing students with a link to the possibilities of volunteer work after graduation. On Friday he will hold an information session on how to use University Ministry's Web resource of post-graduate volunteer opportunities.

Along with links to various volunteer sites, the Web base provides questions to help students with their discernment process.

"The Web base offers questions to provoke a heartfelt search uniting head and heart in terms of pursuing a rich life," Dorsey said.

"Sometimes people are not ready to go on and begin a career," he said. "They feel that something is unfinished. They realize in the eleventh hour that they missed the opportunity to be part of something greater."

"We constantly promote the notion of 'be the difference'," Dorsey said. "Here's another opportunity."

For Melissa Lindstrum, a senior in the College of Communication currently considering volunteer work after graduation, it is this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of something greater that is drawing her to the possibility of volunteer work.

"I don't think I'll ever have this opportunity again," Lindstrum said. "I think if I got a job I would be so set in my ways that I wouldn't have time to do something like this. Doing this first will give me an idea of what direction I want my life to take."

"The focus is on a nagging desire they feel to do something more with their lives," Dorsey said. "People are at a crossroads in their lives where this is possible."

For Lori Rogers, a 2005 graduate who chose to volunteer after graduation, the experience has been rewarding.

"God continues to teach me lessons in unexpected places," Rogers said of her volunteer work as a lay assistant with Capuchin Franciscan Youth and Family Ministries in Garrison, N.Y.

According to Dorsey, at least 15 to 20 Marquette students go on to volunteer work after graduation each year, though the number is likely higher.

An "education like at Marquette gives you a foundation to allow you to define who you are," Dorsey said. "In defining who you are you come to the understanding of what gifts, talents and abilities you possess. With volunteering you understand yourself, but you begin to dream differently. The desire is about experiencing a culture, understanding how people can teach you about yourself."

The information session will be held Friday at 4 p.m. in John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, room 320H. For more information, visit http://www.marquette.edu/um/serving/postgrad/index.htm.