College of Wooster alumni give back
The College of Wooster stretched beyond the city limits on Saturday, Oct. 3, to provide services to organizations across the country. Scots in Service day is an annual project that promotes volunteerism throughout various communities in the name of the school. There were also volunteer endeavors all the way in London, England.But Scots in Service didn’t forget about their own backyard. The Wooster projects included Change through Chance, Learn ‘N Play, STEPS at Liberty Center and Every Woman’s House, Viola Startzman Free Clinic, Wayne Center for the Arts and Wooster Fest. There were 100 volunteers that included alumni, current students, parents of students, faculty and staff of the College of Wooster, any children that tagged along with any of the staff or alumni and a Girl Scout troop.
“We do Scots in Service here, but also in 27 other different cities, and so the idea is for Wooster alumni, parents, faculty and staff to all get together on the same day, all around the country, and do something that helps their local community, but in the name of the College of Wooster,” explained Sandy Nichols, director of alumni relations at the College of Wooster.
The activities consisted of painting, winterizing, steam cleaning, sanitizing, yard work and general cleaning. The group had anticipated re-staining wood at Wooster City Parks, but was unable to due to the rain.
“I think it’s great, it helps get alumni together in their cities. Wooster is different because we’re already home in a sense. But in London, it’s a really neat opportunity for people who may not have met each other, but have Wooster in common. But then for here in Wooster, you get so many people, about 100, so it gives them a chance to get into organizations they’ve heard of, but don’t know as much about as they might realize,” Nichols continued.
Mark Gooch, alumni and employee of the College of Wooster, added that Scots in Service is a great opportunity to get involved in the community and the alumni actually get the chance to work alongside the students.
“It’s so nice for people to be able to come and feel like they can see the difference that they made,” Nichols said.
For the past eight years, the project was focused on Wooster Parks and Recreation. This is the first year the service group has stretched into assisting not-for-profit organizations.
Nichols concluded that all of those organizations responded very positively to their assistance and picked out projects that had the potential to be finished in the time slot that the group had.
“It’s a good thing to help out the community,” summed up Rebekah Stebbins, a College of Wooster student.