Springfield College To Halt Classes, Work To Tackle Community Projects
September 13, 2003SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept. 13, 2003 --Wielding rakes, paint brushes, and tutorial equipment instead of their usual textbooks and computers, 2,000 Springfield College students, faculty and staff members will tackle more than 80 projects in the community in a day of concentrated service on Thursday, September 25, 2003, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For its annual Humanics In Action Day, Springfield College will cancel classes and operate offices with reduced staffing to free college volunteers to work on projects primarily in neighborhoods surrounding its campus. College work groups wearing green tee shirts will clean-up playgrounds and vacant lots, entertainment senior citizens, conduct educational projects for elementary school students, and perform a variety of indoor and outdoor projects throughout the community.
Eastern Avenue will become a “Humanics in Action Day Corridor,” with more than 200 college volunteers working on projects from Bridge Academy at the south to William N. DeBerry School at the north. College volunteers will canvass the neighborhood to register voters. Plans for DeBerry School include a Junior Achievement Day for six classes, cleanup of school grounds, and reading aloud.
Utilizing the natural resources of Forest Park, 50 college volunteers will pair with Kensington Avenue School students for hands-on science and environmental studies projects.
Following the event, the college will host a cookout for its volunteers, neighborhood residents, and members of cooperating community organizations and city departments beginning at 1 p.m. at Blake Track on the campus.
Springfield College initiated Humanics In Action Day in September 1998, as a demonstration of its humanics philosophy that emphasizes education of the whole person in spirit, mind, and body, for leadership in service to others. The event augments the college’s year-round service programs in which students enhance their classroom learning by performing service projects related to their studies in schools, neighborhood organizations and city programs. Humanics in Action Day initiators were student leaders of the New Student Orientation and Distinguished Professor of Humanics Peter Polito. The college has held service days at various times throughout its history. The earliest example on record was in 1918.
