Approximately 200 Shepherd University students and staff volunteered for the school’s 12th annual Day of Service at 20 different Jefferson and Berkeley-county locations Tuesday, August 21.
The volunteers performed tasks that ranged from sorting paperwork and making bulletin boards to cleaning streams and trimming trees at sites that were just as varied, including nonprofit agencies, public parks, schools and memorials, and day care centers.
“I just want to give back to the community because I know they always are giving to Shepherd University,” said Hailey Brown, a first-year student and business major from Annandale, Virginia. She spent the morning organizing class rosters at Jefferson High School. With her was Kelsey Simmons, also a first-year student, who said she volunteered to gain the experience.
“It’s a very good program. You get to give back to what is now your community. It makes you feel good,” said the psychology major from Charmco.
Day of Service is part of Emerging Leaders in Service, a larger program in which incoming students learn about their leadership capacities, said Holly Frye, assistant vice president for student affairs.
“This year, with the leadership component, they’re really going to be able to begin their college careers with a foundation and knowledge of leadership,” she said. “Through our student activities office, this is really just the beginning of a whole series of student leadership programs.”
By participating in the Emerging Leaders in Service program, residential students move in early. In addition, all first-year volunteers are able to become acclimated to campus earlier and make connections, said Frye.
One returning volunteer, Julia Lockman, a second-year student majoring in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice, from Springfield, Pennsylvania, said her work last year hauling gravel for the Habitat for Humanity Restore was fun.
“I had a good group. I’m still friends with almost all of them,” she said.
This year she was volunteering at A Special Place, therapeutic child development center in Charles Town, helping to prepare for the new center’s dedication by arranging folding chairs and setting the lunch table.
“We’ve been so blessed to be a part of the Emerging Leaders in Service program and have the students with us,” said Bonnie Zampino, the center’s president.
