Warren Wilson College students spread out ot help the Swannanoa Valley
Service Day puts hundreds of new students to work on various community projects
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 20, 2021
Warren Wilson College freshman Liam Wagner was one of hundreds of students to participate in Service Day, Aug. 19. Photo by Fred McCormick
Liam Wagner didn’t seem bothered by the scorching sun, Aug. 19, as he worked a pitchfork into a large mulch pile in front of the Bill & Dot Spearman Dining Hall inside Christmount. In fact, there was nothing he wanted to do more than work alongside his classmates as they helped their new community.
The incoming freshman was one of 280 first-year and transfer students from Warren Wilson College who participated in Service Day, an annual event dedicated to making a lasting and positive impact in the Swannanoa Valley and surrounding areas.
Collectively, the 345 Warren Wilson faculty, staff, student leaders, athletes and new arrivals who tackled projects at 15 locations from the Verner Center for Early Learning, to local schools, to the Dr. John Wilson Community Garden, to Christmount, worked a total of nearly 1,400 hours on Thursday. Wagner was one of more than a dozen representatives from the Swannanoa college focusing their efforts on a pollinator garden inside the assembly on N.C. 9.
Jason Kern dumps mulch into a bin while working on a project at Christmount, Aug. 19, during Warren Wilson College Service Day. Photo by Fred McCormick
“I’ve always loved volunteer work, it’s one of my true passions,” said the Maine native who dedicated much of his gap year to efforts in Hawaii and Australia. “I spent time as a beach cleanup coordinator, and that sparked this passion to get out in the communities, meet the people and do something that’s selfless.”
Doing so regularly while pursuing a college degree was a major factor in his decision to attend Warren Wilson.
“This college gives you the opportunity to do that, and to pay off some of your tuition,” he said. “That’s a valuable and unique aspect of Warren Wilson that I think many of the students admire.”
Jason Kern, an incoming freshman majoring in wildlife conservation, was pushing a wheelbarrow filled with composting materials nearby. The crew on which he and Wagner were assigned was spreading mulch and creating a community garden on the property.
The assignment represented much of what brought Kern to Warren Wilson.
“I love this area,” said Kern, a native of Virginia who learned about the college from a friend while volunteering in Highlands. “One of the reasons I was interested in coming to Warren Wilson was its focus on service in the community.”
Students from the college took on projects at four area schools, including Owen Middle, where the First Year Seminar class collected bags of litter washed ashore by the Swannanoa River during Tropical Depression Fred. Thirty-six members of the class of 2025 completed multiple tasks around the campus, according to professor of education and director of faculty community engagement, Annie Jonas.
Warren Wilson College students clean out an area of the courtyard at Owen Middle School, Aug. 19, during Service Day. Photo by Fred McCormick
The group repainted the maroon benches that surround the school’s tennis courts, cleaned garden beds and performed general maintenance of the courtyard area, where many of the middle school students will be eating lunch when the fall semester starts next week.
“The prospect of being involved while gaining learning experience in active community work, rather than just academically, really made me want to come to Warren Wilson,” said Jay Cathcart, who settled in on the campus earlier in the week. “It’s great, because I wasn’t anticipating being able to be out in the community doing things like this so quickly, so today was a fantastic surprise.”
Jay Cathcart, a freshman at Warren Wilson College, pulls weeds at Owen Middle School on Aug. 19, when hundreds of students from the Swannanoa school completed projects throughout the community for Service Day. Photo by Fred McCormick
Service Day has been an annual tradition at the college for over 30 years, and community engagement has been a graduation requirement for students there since 1959.
Participants in Service Day worked with a variety of community organizations, with many projects centered around issues of food security, education and the environment. Because all first-year seminars are community-engaged courses, many of the students will spent the day with the community organization that they will continue to work with for the duration of the semester.
The fall semester at Warren Wilson, which is knowns for its curriculum combining academics, work and service to the community, will begin Monday, Aug. 23.