Day of Service

Registrations have already begun for the upcoming Day of Service. It is one of the many events taking place over Homecoming Weekend. The Day of Service is a beneficial opportunity for the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Plymouth State University to join together and volunteer at different sites around this region. 

Casey Krafton and Jessica Dutille work together in the Center for Transformation, located in the lower level of Lamson Learning Commons. They strive to engage the Plymouth community in active citizenship and engaged learning. The Center for Transformation and Offices of Career Development and Alumni Relations are sponsoring this event. 

This is the first official iteration of this day. The Center for Transformation has done smaller events in the past, but nothing campus wide. PSU used to have an event similar to the Day of Service back in the early 2000s, but it became discontinued over time. The Day of Service is on a much larger scale, capable of including many people, who will volunteer in several different locations. It will take place all day on Friday, September 28th. Participants will receive their t-shirts upon arrival. 

"The whole purpose is to honor our connections in community," Jess said. This mentality follows the PSU motto, Ut Prosim, meaning "that I may serve." 

"We thought it would be nice to have our university come together to really embody our motto, Ut Prosim," Casey said, "we connected with a lot of community agencies throughout the region to set up different volunteer events, so students, faculty, staff and alumni could get involved in different projects." 

Pre-registration is required to participate. Participants can choose one of seven sites to dedicate their time and effort. They range in terms of location, and what kind of tasks they need. Transportation will be provided to all of the sites. Each group will get into a van and head to the destination they chose. “All the sites are with off campus and non-profit partners,” Jess said. Sites include: Circle Camp, Belknap Mill, Squam Lakes Science Center, Mowglis Camp, Habitat for Humanity, Friends of the Pemi, and Baker River Watershed Association. Some locations provide lunches, and others suggest bringing bagged lunches. Clothing recommendations can be found on the registration site. “It’s a great opportunity to have Day of Service on the Friday of Homecoming,” Jess said, “In this way we can engage alumni who are up for the weekend in this meaningful day along with students, faculty, and staff. A week day is also more convenientfor our off campus partners. It’s all about building and maintaining reciprocal partnerships with local non-profits that are doing such important work.” This is a chance to kick off Homecoming weekend by giving back to local people and businesses.

“We are excited to take this time to recognize that we are so interconnected in our community,” Jess said, “And we need to honor those connections by supporting one another. The Day of Service advances our community culture around our motto.” Honoring our motto, Ut Prosim, is one sure way to gain a sense of pride in our identity as PSU students, past students, faculty and staff.