On Friday, Sept. 2, Oberlin’s Center for Service and Learning (CSL) will offer new students a unique opportunity to learn about the community through volunteer projects and to put the College’s motto, Learning and Labor, into action during a Day of Service (DOS).

Each year since 1996, new students have dedicated the last day of first-year orientation to volunteering at a wide variety of partner agencies. The volunteer projects include an orientation, a service project, a free lunch, and time to discuss future involvement in the community. Student leaders will coordinate work at the 21 sites.

Sophomore Stephanie Forbes enjoyed last fall’s Day of Service so much that she signed up again this year.

“I led a group of other first-years in weeding and cleaning up the tennis courts at Oberlin High School,” says the Hispanic studies major. “We chatted, made connections—doing service is a great way to make friends. And doing it with others is always better than doing it alone.”

“It’s good that DOS takes place before newbies get caught up in the ‘Oberlin bubble’,” says Nathan Brewer ’06, coordinator of this year’s event.  “Meeting people and discovering what the area has to offer grounds new students in the realization that learning goes on at Oberlin both inside and outside the classroom.”

Here in town, the volunteers will assist in city beautification and cleanup, ready preschool classrooms at the Oberlin Early Childhood Center (OECC) for the start of school year, help build two Habitat for Humanity houses, visit with residents and coordinate a picnic at Welcome Nursing Home, organize food distribution and gardening at Oberlin Community Services, harvest organically grown food and remove weeds at the George Jones Farm, and perform landscape maintenance at the Splash Zone, Oberlin schools, and Boys and Girls Club.

Elsewhere in the county, they will participate in trail building and painting at Common Ground: The Cindy Nord Center for Renewal on Baird Road, assist the after-school education/arts program at Harrison Cultural Community Center in Lorain, plant trees and engage in reforestation in Lorain County Metro Parks, and undertake landscape and building maintenance at Second Harvest Food Bank in Lorain.

The work performed not only makes a difference at each locale, but it also strongly affects many students’ college lives.

Fourth-year history major Angela Horn, who spent her Day of Service pulling an invasive species of vegetation from grassy swards at the Lorain County Metro Parks, recalls the experience fondly.

“The DOS was a very reciprocal experience. I gained so much from it. Not only did I get to admire the parks and enjoy a free vegetarian lunch, but I met some of the most wonderful, amazing people, and they have been my greatest friends throughout college,” she says.

One of the happiest DOS beneficiaries is the Oberlin Early Childhood Center.“We look forward each year to the students coming,” says Director Nancy Sabath. “We host about 15 students each September and find them deeply interested in our community. Many of the preschoolers have never met a college student, so the Obies are wonderful role models.

“Those who become regular volunteers do much to help bring town and gown closer together. Each year about 10 percent of DOS students return to the OECC as volunteers, work-study participants, and tutors in the America Reads program. Many stay with us their entire time at Oberlin.”

Forbes, the sophomore eager to participate in a second DOS, has a theory about why Oberlin students become so involved. “Many of us feel that service is the price we pay for living on this earth, and we are inclined to do it. I've never seen so many young people involved in a single community that is, for the most part, not their own. It's truly inspiring.”

Students who have not registered but who wish to participate may sign up Friday at Finney Plaza, the place of departure, says DOS Coordinator Brewer. “We’ve saved 30 seats, so latecomers should just show up at 9:30 a.m. and register then.”

Center for Service and Learning