By SAMI MCGUIRE
Student Reporter
On Thursday, Oct. 29 students of Northwestern met to help beautify the city of Alva.
Each semester the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement puts on a Beautification Day to help give back to the community. This semester the students painted the crosswalks around Alva Middle School and Longfellow Elementary School. Last semester, students cleaned two miles of the Boulevard of trash and debris. According to Theresa Lemke, Service Learning Coordinator, “they are always open to ideas from the community so that the projects can make the greatest impact”.
The purpose of the beautification day, according to Lemke, is to teach students the importance of serving their communities. Lemke said: “Part of our mission at Northwestern is service. One of our core values is community. Whether it is in Alva while they are here of wherever they end up after graduation, we want our students to graduate understanding the importance of serving their communities.”
“Alva provides a home to Northwestern students while they are here, and beautification day helps Alva know how much the students appreciate it,” Lemke said. Students that attend the beautification day also benefit from the experience. According to Lemke, “It teaches them a sense of community involvement and helps them feel more connected to Alva. It also connects students, who have a passion for service, who may not know each other prior to the projects.”
This semester’s beautification day had a turn out of five students, along with some faculty members. Alva provided the paint for the students to paint the crosswalks. Jordan Evans, a senior and history major, attended the event; he said “it’s important to give back to Alva because the town does so much for our school.” He also said, “to beautify the community on everyday basis students can pick up trash and visit local businesses”.
Other ways students can beautify the community, according to Lemke, is to get involved in events, like the upcoming Rake and Run to help community members rake up their fall leaves.
Another student who attended the event was Corey Shirey, a freshman and political science major. Shirey was an Eagle Scout out of the Boy Scout group 355 in Weatherford. He said that during his time in the Boy Scouts, they were always helping out other Eagle Scouts and giving back to the community.
Lemke said that they receive a lot of positive reactions from the community after these projects. “After our first cleanup day, when we cleaned the Boulevard, we had people offer to donate to continue these sorts of projects.” Shirey said “The community loves it when the youth gets out and volunteers.”
Although this particular service project was mainly for students, Lemke said they hope to expand to community involvement as well.
Anyone interested in joining the next service project can contact Lemke by email at tmlemke@nwsou.edu or by phone at 580-327-8134.