Freshmen Day of Service

On Wednesday, October 25, Aquinas’ entire freshmen class took part in the first-ever Freshmen Day of Service. Nearly 150 students were broken up into 13 groups and taken to different locations throughout Rochester to volunteer.

Each location was carefully selected as the community service completed by the freshmen class and all subsequent classes must now coincide with the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and/or social justice issues which include:

 

With that in mind, students visited School of the Holy Childhood, Cameron Community Ministries, Dunn Towers, Mary Cariola, Bethany House, St. Ann’s Community, Foodlink, Monroe Community Hospital, Nazareth Elementary, St. Joseph House of Hospitality, Fleming Point, Oatka Cemetery and the Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse.

After returning back to school, the students had time to reflect in small groups about their experience and then designated two representatives to speak to the entire freshmen class about their volunteer work. The hope is that by sharing, students will get a broader idea of where they might like to volunteer second semester and in the future.

“Reaching out to the needy in our community and meeting their needs is vital,” said Sr. Dora Christian, Community Service Coordinator at Aquinas and member of the Campus Life Team who put together the Freshmen Day of Service. “Our hope is that students will now be able to distinguish between serving and being of service when choosing a volunteer activity. The former being the ultimate goal.”