From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Fri Aug 30 2002 - 12:03:56 EDT
August 30, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUMMARY: Calvin freshmen will hit the streets of Grand Rapids September 5-7
for service projects as part of orientation (before they take even a single
class). Among the sites this year: Celebration on the Grand in downtown GR!
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New students learn right away that at Calvin education goes beyond the
classroom. That's apparent when they participate in a service project, called
StreetFest, before they take even a single class .
StreetFest 2002 will see over 1,000 first-year Calvin students, clad in
distinctive t-shirts, volunteering all over Grand Rapids September 5-7. Classes
start at Calvin on September 9.
The approximately 40 worksites include such places as Guiding Light Mission,
Dwelling Place, Porter Hills nursing home, Baxter Community Center, John Ball
Zoo, the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and more. Work will take
place at the various sites each of the three days from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
For example on Thursday, September 5, a group of students will be working at
Baxter Community Center cleaning the facility and the surrounding neighborhood.
At the same time, other groups will be at Porter Hills and Metron nursing homes
socializing with the residents.
Many students will also be working for the City of Grand Rapids throughout the
weekend, collecting trash and setting up tables for the Celebration on the Grand
(an end-of-the-summer festival downtown that happens to fall on the same weekend
as StreetFest this year).
While StreetFest certainly accomplishes a lot of good work around Grand Rapids,
the greater goal is to familiarize Calvin students with Grand Rapids and its
needs and also to teach them the importance Calvin places on service-learning.
StreetFest student coordinator Becca Quemada of Kalamazoo explains that Calvin
uses the term "service- learning" instead of "volunteering" to better convey the
reciprocal benefits of helping others.
"While we serve others," she says, "we are served by them through what they
teach us. We may learn about challenges faced by minority youth, or have our
eyes opened to how blessed we are. There are a thousand lessons to learn every
time you step out of your comfort zones."
The theme for StreetFest 2002 is "My Place in the Puzzle."
Says Quemada: "The theme takes the focus off what we do and puts it on what
God is already doing and how we can join that work."
StreetFest 2002 will mark the tenth straight year that Calvin has included this
huge service project as part of its overall orientation program for first-year
students.
"I'm excited," says Jeff Bouman, the new Director of Calvin's Service Learning
Center, of his first time coordinating StreetFest.
In keeping with the "learning" half of the service-learning equation students
will prepare for their projects with devotions and an hour of training and
follow up the projects with a time of reflection.
This year's class of approximately 1,050 promises to be one of the biggest work
forces yet. Last year the rate of participation in StreetFest was nearly 100%
and organizers expect an equally impressive turnout this year.
-end-
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