When students, faculty and staff roll up their sleeves for a Day of Service next month, they’ll be doing more than helping their neighbors — they’ll be kicking off a campus-wide effort focused on community service and engagement.
Known as the Generosity Project, the initiative aims to elevate existing work related to philanthropy, volunteerism and service.
“We are trying to amplify what's already happening,” said Associate Provost Wendy Singer, Roy T. Wortman Distinguished Professor of History and one of the project’s tri-chairs. “What we'd like to encourage is a thoughtful process through which students and faculty and the community recognize the work that they do as part of our connection to the local community.”
This year, for example, there are a record-breaking number of students — more than 700 — engaging in the community through 43 Community-Engaged Learning courses. More have become involved through internships facilitated by the Career Development Office and through volunteer opportunities set up by the Office for Community Partnerships.
Student organizations participate in a wide variety of service projects, too. Among some high-profile efforts this year, the Kenyon Student-Athlete Advisory Committee was honored this month by the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities for its work with Special Olympics.
The Generosity Project aims to make a splash with its Day of Service on April 10, part of Bicentennial Spirit Week leading up to the installation of Julie Kornfeld as the College’s 20th president on April 13.
Kenyon community members are encouraged to carve out an hour or more to volunteer at one of the three following activities:
-
Painting a playhouse for a Habitat for Humanity family (10 a.m.-3 p.m., meet at the covered parking area behind the Kenyon College Bookstore)
-
Undertaking landscaping work with students at Wiggin Street Elementary (10 a.m.-2 p.m.)
-
Joining with community members in a cleanup of Gambier and Kenyon (10 a.m.-2 p.,m., meet at the Pocket Park next to the post office)
Sign up for a service activity
This is just the beginning of broad opportunities being made available to the whole campus community.
“We'll continue to do service projects throughout the year,” said Annie Gordon, director of alumni engagement and another tri-chair. “We've talked about doing it over Homecoming and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
Singer pointed out that not only is the spirit of generosity alive and well among students at Kenyon — who routinely attend each other’s presentations, plays and performances to support one another — but that it has been part of Kenyon since its inception. After all, it was the generosity of British patrons such as Lords Gambier, Bexley, and Kenyon; Lady Rosse; and Hannah More who made the College possible after Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase traveled abroad and sought their backing. (In return, Chase gave back to the people he met while he was abroad by leading services and officiating at functions.)
Such philanthropy is an essential way to support valued institutions, and the Generosity Project aims to encourage such giving. An annual giving challenge will run throughout Bicentennial Spirit Week to inspire alumni, parents, faculty, staff and students to support the causes at Kenyon they care about most.
But the initiative’s leaders also want to expand how people define generosity and strengthen its link to the College’s core values.
“This is connected to the larger scope and mission of the College, both in spirit and actually in writing,” said Dean of Students Brian Janssen, one of the project’s tri-chairs. “When we’re talking about high-impact practices [in the strategic plan], one of the most meaningful ones is doing service projects, whether it's individually or as a collective, not only to help bolster a sense of belonging but also allowing students time to reflect on that experience and what that means to them and what it means to the community.”
Members of the Generosity Project, who started meeting this past fall, come from across divisions at the College. They intend to add students to the group next fall.
Incorporating the group’s first service project into the week leading up to the presidential inauguration is particularly meaningful to Kornfeld.
“Building community is one of the most important things that we do here at Kenyon,” Kornfeld said. “Expanding opportunities for service helps to build important bridges and deepen our connection to one another, making the upcoming Day of Service a perfect fit for Bicentennial Spirit Week.”
