2008 Woodie Awards
Students work to beautify Schenectady for annual John Calvin Toll day
Alice Huang
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
This past Saturday, October 20, over 150 students participated in the 13th annual John Calvin Toll Day, where they took part in various beautification projects.
Participants raked leaves, picked up litter on the streets, cut hedges, and watered flowers in the neighborhood.
On this day of community service, Union students attempt to establish a deeper bond with the town and create an overall better community. John Calvin Toll Day was created to supply a large number of passionate volunteers to beautify certain significant sites located in downtown Schenectady. Volunteers are recruited from various places like Union College, the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation (DSIC), and Schenectady Promise.
The genuine desire to contribute back to Schenectady and to participate in such a huge Union College community event are not the only driving forces of the increasing number of participants in Toll Day.
The day has evolved into a competition not only between floors, but also between fraternities/sororities and Union Greek Life in general this year. In fact, the number of participants for this year's Toll Day was extremely large, due to the competition over which fraternity or sorority could recruit the most volunteers.
Although there was some competition at Union among dorms and between floors to recruit the most volunteers, the number of participants of John Calvin Toll Day continues to increase dramatically.
Students genuinely desire to demonstrate their contributions to the community. John Calvin Toll Day provides the student body with the perfect opportunity to give back to their community, while introducing them to the concept of volunteering and providing them with experiences which they can utilize later.
As Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinator at the Kenney Community Center, Don Austin, stated, "Fortunately, we've seen a rise in value of community action in a variety of today's career fields. Many potential employers, graduate school admission staffs, and branches of the military want to see that college students are complimenting their studies with frequent volunteer community service…They're very interested in initiative and motivation now; consistent volunteer work can be a reflection of those qualities. Events like John Tolls Day of Community Service offer students the chance to begin accumulating that experience."
Participants raked leaves, picked up litter on the streets, cut hedges, and watered flowers in the neighborhood.
On this day of community service, Union students attempt to establish a deeper bond with the town and create an overall better community. John Calvin Toll Day was created to supply a large number of passionate volunteers to beautify certain significant sites located in downtown Schenectady. Volunteers are recruited from various places like Union College, the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation (DSIC), and Schenectady Promise.
The genuine desire to contribute back to Schenectady and to participate in such a huge Union College community event are not the only driving forces of the increasing number of participants in Toll Day.
The day has evolved into a competition not only between floors, but also between fraternities/sororities and Union Greek Life in general this year. In fact, the number of participants for this year's Toll Day was extremely large, due to the competition over which fraternity or sorority could recruit the most volunteers.
Although there was some competition at Union among dorms and between floors to recruit the most volunteers, the number of participants of John Calvin Toll Day continues to increase dramatically.
Students genuinely desire to demonstrate their contributions to the community. John Calvin Toll Day provides the student body with the perfect opportunity to give back to their community, while introducing them to the concept of volunteering and providing them with experiences which they can utilize later.
As Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinator at the Kenney Community Center, Don Austin, stated, "Fortunately, we've seen a rise in value of community action in a variety of today's career fields. Many potential employers, graduate school admission staffs, and branches of the military want to see that college students are complimenting their studies with frequent volunteer community service…They're very interested in initiative and motivation now; consistent volunteer work can be a reflection of those qualities. Events like John Tolls Day of Community Service offer students the chance to begin accumulating that experience."
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