BVU Esports helps mulch trees during Buenafication Day in Storm Lake parks

BVU Esports traded a competitive gaming setup for park work in Storm Lake, helping mulch trees during Buena Vista University’s Buenafication Day and putting student labor in places residents see and use every day.

The volunteer effort mattered well beyond campus pride. In a town where public spaces help define daily life, the sight of BVU students working in Storm Lake parks put a campus group known for esports into a civic role that was easy to see and hard to miss. The work supported local beautification at a time when the city was still dealing with the effects of severe weather that hit Storm Lake on April 17, 2025, leaving downed trees and other damage across town.

Buena Vista University says Buenafication Day is its annual day of service and one of its most beloved traditions. The event dates to 1913, when students joined faculty and staff in a spring cleaning effort on campus. What began there has grown into volunteer service for organizations throughout Storm Lake, Buena Vista County and beyond, with BVU saying students, faculty and staff give more than 60,000 hours of service each year.

This year’s Buenafication Day fell on April 24, 2025, and the day’s projects stretched across the community. In Storm Lake parks, volunteers picked up trash, sticks and branches, while others cleaned the beach at Scout Park and packaged meal kits. The work showed how the university’s service day has become more than a campus tradition. It functions as a community response, especially when public spaces need extra hands after a storm or during seasonal cleanup.

BVU Esports’ participation also reflects how the university has broadened the meaning of student involvement. The program competes in an Esports Arena and operates under a model based on the National Association of Collegiate Esports. BVU says the program has grown to more than 80 student-athletes, with three conference affiliations and more than a dozen active rosters. On Buenafication Day, those student-athletes were not in front of monitors. They were in the parks, helping mulch trees and improve the spaces Storm Lake residents use most.