ATHENS, WV (WOAY) – As the fall semester gets underway at Concord University, freshmen and the Bonner Scholars Program are teaming up for Student Service Days.
The campus and community projects are helping the new students meet their UNIV 100 – CU Foundations service component. UNIV 100 is the required First Year Experience course for all Concord freshmen that helps them make a smooth transition to college life.
“Our Concord students have a long history of serving in the local community and, by making service a component of our Foundations course for freshman students, we introduce our students to this tradition very early,” explains Kathy Ball, Bonner Scholars Director. “It’s our hope that they continue to serve as a student and on into their futures.”
The opportunity to interact with fellow students is also a benefit of participating in the Student Service Days.
“In addition to gaining experience in service learning, past service day participants have reported enjoying meeting other students who are interested in the same types of things that they are,” states Dr. Sheila Womack, Director of Student Success. “The service days are a really great opportunity for our freshmen to do some good for our community and also to meet and interact with new peers at CU as they transition into college.”
Student Service Days have been scheduled for three Saturdays early in the semester: Aug. 28, Sept. 11 and Sept. 25. Both in-person and remote service opportunities are available.
Projects ranging from clean-up and beautification to brightening the lives of children and senior citizens are planned. Fellow CU students, residents of the local area and beyond, and even furry friends will benefit from their volunteer efforts.
Included among the variety of volunteer activities are painting Mountain Lion paw prints on the campus roadway; working in the Athens community garden; creating fun-colored pillowcases for children living in shelters; crafting cheerful gifts for senior citizens; making dog toys and pet treats for a local animal shelter; and constructing shoe kits for the Sole Hope organization to make footwear for people in Uganda.
The projects are being coordinated by Concord Bonner program alum, Peyton Brown, a Bonner House graduate assistant. Each project is also being assigned one or two student leaders to supervise and support the freshmen. These students are typically Bonner Scholars or representatives of other campus organizations.
“In planning the freshman Service Days, we really tried to keep the interests of students in mind. We made sure to have a variety of different activities so that every student could sign up for a project they wanted to do and not just a project that they had to do,” Brown says.
“A lot of hard work goes into planning the service days each year, and we spend the entire summer getting ready for each project,” Brown says. “However, the work put in behind the scenes is absolutely worth it whenever we see the lessons that students learn from doing service.
For additional information about the Student Service Days or the Bonner Scholars Program at Concord University, please email bonner@concord.edu or call 304-384-6009.
