Nearly 200 Eckerd College students, alumni, faculty, staff, and Academy of Senior Professionals and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute members took time on Sept. 23 to participate in the campuswide Day of Service—a launch event for the Eckerd College St. Pete Center for Civic Engagement and Social Impact.
Campus began buzzing at 6:30 a.m. that Friday as volunteers set up registration and food tables in front of Triton’s Pub. The first shuttles to the nine community locations where Tritons gardened, cleaned and assisted left Cobb Loop just after 9 a.m.
“We are eradicating walls and throwing wide open the gates of our campus … and we are saying to our community: ‘Welcome,’” said Kanika Tomalin, LP.D., Eckerd’s vice president for strategy and chief operating officer, in her welcome remarks. “And we are encouraging our students to discover, explore and contribute to all that unfolds in our awesome city.”
According to its website, the St. Pete Center “enriches student learning by bridging campus and community to address real-time problems facing the greater Tampa Bay area. Through community-based research, teaching and service, the Center prepares students to be action-oriented change agents in an evolving world.”