Incoming Centenary students kick off college with community service
SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College’s newest students arrive on campus August 3 and will immediately dive into learning about and serving their new community. The College’s annual Orientation Service Day on Saturday, August 4, will send members of the incoming Class of 2022 around the city to complete service projects with seven local non-profit organizations.
“Orientation Service Day offers a unique opportunity for our first year students to quickly make a difference in the Shreveport-Bossier community,” says Kaylan Walker, director of community engagement at Centenary. “After completion of the community service projects, students will reflect on the meaning of this day and the importance of civic engagement.”
As a selective liberal arts college that seeks to encourage a lifelong dedication to learning and serving others, Centenary College’s curriculum is grounded in an experiential learning program called TREK. One of the main objectives of TREK is the integration of personal reflection and engagement with the world beyond the classroom. Through completion of the TREK program, it is anticipated that students will enhance their self-knowledge and social awareness through career preparation, intercultural engagement, and civic involvement.
Following an 8:20 a.m. opening ceremony in Centenary’s Kilpatrick Auditorium, first-year students will move on to service sites, many of them in the Highland neighborhood that Centenary calls home. Students will sort clothing and work in the food pantry at the Salvation Army’s Stoner Avenue site, stain a fence at the Volunteers of America’s South Pointe Place Apartments, help with several cleaning and organization projects at Common Ground Community, tend to two community gardens (including one on the Centenary campus), pack food boxes at the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, and assist the American Red Cross in a project to install fire alarms for low-income families in the Highland area.
Centenary’s Orientation Service Day begins at 8:20 a.m. and concludes at 12:00 p.m. A full list of sites and projects is available below:
2018 Orientation Service Day Projects
The Salvation Army of Caddo Parish
200 E. Stoner Ave., 71101
Students will sort clothing for the thrift store and work in food pantry.
Volunteers of America South Pointe Place Apartments
1133 South Pointe Parkway 71105
Students will stain a fence for low-income seniors.
Red River Coalition of Community Gardens
520 Herndon, 71101
Students will help with weeding and other gardening activities.
Common Ground Community, Inc.
6806 Southern Avenue, 71106
Students will reorganize the children's clothes closet and school supplies, sort donated clothes, and assist with food pantry projects, deep cleaning, and landscaping.
Shreveport Green
Centenary Garden on corner of Kings Hwy & Oak Street
Students will help with basic gardening, clean-up, and landscaping.
Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana
2307 Texas Avenue, 71103
Students will pack food boxes for seniors and the underprivileged.
American Red Cross
Highland neighborhood around Centenary, 71104
Students will assist with a fire safety project to install fire alarms for Highland-area families.