Opportunites For Community Service Always Open On Campus

How many times do we hear our Trinity leaders affirming our need to be more involved with the Hartford community? Every year there comes a day when this college does truly bond with our surroundings. Year-round we advocate fences, better security, and shops on Zion street. One day a year, though, hundreds of Trinity students get up and do something to interact with the children growing up in our neighborhood. That day is Halloween on Vernon Street, and again this year, the campus-wide operation was a great success. For those of you who participated in this Halloween on Vernon Street, we extend our thanks and our congratulations for a job well done.

For those of you who, on the other hand, wished not to take on active roles, we need to make you aware and ready for next year. My experiences with Halloween on Vernon Street have been terrific. Last year, I chaperoned children through the haunted frats and the candy-crazed dorms.

This year, being part of Trinity's only residentially-based community service program, Praxis, I was part of a team who hosted group after group of frightened children through the ordeals of our haunted rooms. Those of you who chaperoned might have entered our dorm, Doonesbury, for the first time in your career at Trinity.

So you know your campus? You know the Saturday night Vernon Street, with the bustling frat parties and the dry party barn. Do you know my dorm, Doonesbury, though?

Doonesbury is the residence hall in which 27 students live and share the daily experience of serving our community. Students living in Doonesbury are bound to the Praxis program, which incorporates both regular individual service work and group service projects, such as Do It Day, Fifth Graders Go to College day, or the Fun Fair.

Praxis devoted a Sunday to Halloween on Vernon Street. We had a haunted house, complete with the mad surgeon and the bloody victims. Hartford children came in and out, some crying with terror, but all in the spirit of Halloween. I remember seeing a little girl so terrified that she would not even accept one of the ghost-lollypops we gave out. Halloween on Vernon Street worked, it was a success, but to achieving what goal? Praxis participated in Trinity's effort to blend into our community.

Trinity is a small Liberal Arts College which boasts to train and educate bright minds in the hope of seeing them as leaders of this nation. Events such as Halloween on Vernon Street can therefore not be ignored as a means to achieve this goal. For what is a community if it is divided into indifferent groups, and how can you become an educated and aware person if you do not make an effort to remain conscious of your environment? Praxis emphasizes this aspect of a liberal arts education. Every student in Praxis participated in Halloween on Vernon Street.

Planning efforts, team spirit, and organization were all essential to make the day a success. In Praxis, we learn and apply these skills, which are vital to our oncoming adult lives, on a daily basis. Halloween on Vernon Street is only an example of the many and diverse activities which Praxis is involved in throughout the year. Only two days after this, Praxis was an integral part of the hosting of 185 students from Dwight School and King School for Fifth Graders Go to College Day. Praxis members help set up the event and helped to make it a great success. The Hartford Courant covered this event and praised Praxis students for their participation, as did the Channel Three News.

These are the most recent events in which Praxis has been involved. The calendar for November is just as full. Before Thanksgiving break "Get Naked With Praxis," a coat, blanket, and winter clothing drive profiting homeless shelters, will be advertised. Trinity students will be asked to collect some items to donate for those in need. The drive will take place before Christmas Break, and the homeless of Hartford will hopefully be a little warmer.

For Thanksgiving, those in need will eat pies, of which over 200 will be baked by Praxis members. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, the pies will be prepared by all of the students in Doonesbury, and they will be distributed to shelters for the Thursday feast.

Activity never ceases on our side of campus. Day after day Praxis interacts with the less advantaged people of Hartford. We hope, here in Doonesbury, that Trinity students get to know more about Praxis and all that the program has to offer. This residentially-based community service program is available to all at Trinity, and we urge everybody to develop an interest in serving our community and to get involved. Next year you could be responsible for the positive outcome of many activities, and you could become a bigger part of the Hartford community.