First-year students start year with service
First-year students completed their Wheaton orientation with a series of service projects in Norton and Mansfield this week, sponsored by the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility (SSSR).
First-year students completed their Wheaton orientation with a series of service projects in Norton and Mansfield this week, sponsored by the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility (SSSR).
''We wanted to give students a taste of the partnerships we're developing in the region,'' said Ryan Henke, the office's community partnership specialist. ''We also made sure everyone had fun.''
On Monday, about 20 students visited one of four local organizations to lend a hand. At the Norton Public Library and Cupboard of Kindness food pantry in Norton, volunteers cleaned meeting spaces. At the Norton Senior Center, they stained cupboards, and at the Our Daily Bread food pantry in Mansfield students shelved and packed food.
Tuesday morning was spent on campus in the SSSR office, packing used textbooks for distribution to college prep centers within Massachusetts and sorting information packets for the Norton Public Library. The 20 or so volunteers also put together backpacks--filled with notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons and other school supplies--for Head Start in Norton.
