Keene State College Community Service Day
If you were around town on October 5, chances are you were seeing a lot of red. More than two hundred volunteer students, faculty, and staff, most wearing the distinctive Keene State school colors, blanketed the city for the day to demonstrate the power of community service.
Waist deep in the murky Ashuelot River, volunteers pulled more than a dozen abandoned grocery carts out of the water. Others collected trash from along the river banks. And still others mowed, raked, and pruned the local vegetation or painted, cleaned, and organized at a number of locations across town. At the end of the day, the impact that 200 volunteers had on the businesses and community of Keene, New Hampshire was substantial.
Community service is a fundamental element of the academic and community life at Keene State College. The motto inscribed on the Appian Way gates,” Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve,” describes perfectly the spirit of service that is incorporated into the college’s academic and co-curricular experience.
The number of volunteer hours associated with KSC Community Service Day will greatly increase the total number of hours tracked throughout the year. In 2011-12, Keene State students contributed 72,800 hours of service associated with community projects. Jessica Gagne Cloutier, Coordinator of Community Service at Keene State, summed up the underlying goal of Community Service Day when she said, “This is a true opportunity to build partnerships with the Keene community and to make an ongoing commitment to service as part of our daily lives.”
Photo Contest - And the Winners Are:
Volunteers and community partners were encouraged to document the efforts of students, faculty, and staff and to submit their work in a photo contest. The President’s Cabinet reviewed the photos and selected three images that best capture the spirit of the day. The three winners will be recognized by Interim President Jay Kahn.
First Place: Anne Miller
Anne is the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Keene State College. She is an accomplished photographer whose work has received awards in local photo competitions. Anne’s photographs have also appeared in Keene State media. Her image of four Keene State students hauling a shopping cart up the bank of the Ashuelot River speaks to the strong commitment of volunteers to make a difference in their community. The four students are: Heather Hurdwood, Julia Bisbee, Samantha Gaudette, and Lisa Gaidosz.
Second Place: Cynthia Boucher
Cynthia serves as the Gifts Processor Assistant in the Advancement Division at Keene State College. Accustomed to working on the other side of the camera as a model, Cynthia has built up a significant body of work as a photographer. In her spare time, she enjoys covering news and events on campus. Cynthia creates a dynamic composition in her photograph by adopting a vantage point above the action of volunteers collecting trash from a row boat.
Third Place: Eric Swope
Eric played an important role in the Community Service Day as a location coordinator for the Beaver Brook site. He serves as the Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator for the Keene Wastewater Treatment Plant. Despite his responsibilities as a site coordinator, Eric found time to fit in some photography of the volunteer groups that removed trash from Beaver Brook. His photograph of volunteers from the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority speaks to the team spirit of Community Service Day.
Congratulations to all three outstanding photographers for their participation in the KSC Community Service Day!
