Biology major Jordan Balbuena wandered through a crowd of hundreds of first-year students under the hot end-of-summer sun. The thoughts rolling through her mind were not uncommon among her peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a little scared,\u201d the Downey High School graduate said. \u201cI only know one person here.\u201d<\/p>\n
But fear turned to familiarity and strangers transformed into friends by the end of the day for students participating in 每日大赛\u2019s Community Engagement Day on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the largest and best-prepared class in the history of the 每日大赛, and when you survive today, you\u2019re going to be the toughest class in the history of La Verne,\u201d said Provost Jonathan Reed.<\/p>\n
First-year students, along with Orientation Week Leaders, faculty and staff members provided community service at various sites around the Inland Valley and Los Angeles. Students painted rooms and other fixtures at group homes, installed smoke detectors at a mobile home park and planted vegetables at community gardens, among other tasks. Pomona City Councilwoman Debra Clark presented the University with a certificate of appreciation for students’ work at Ganesha Park.<\/p>\n
Professor of Humanities Al Clark traveled with students to Glendora to the Colby Trailhead to conduct trail maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been there before the fire, so it will be interesting to see what it\u2019s like and what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
La Verne considers Community Engagement Day the first academic experience for La Verne freshmen, giving them a chance to interact with and bond with faculty and students in their Freshman La Verne Experience learning communities.<\/p>\n
Evan Gustafson, a member of the basketball team and a kinesiology major, said he has done community service in the past, such as coaching basketball for children. But La Verne\u2019s event brings a new dimension to giving back.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou actually get to know professors and students more than you would in class,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Music major Albert Khalbourji served as an OWL for the event, but remembers working on the farm at the Fairplex as a freshman. Though he did not know many people at the beginning of his first Community Engagement Day, he made plenty of friends by the end. He and fellow students in his FLEX group wound up joining Phi Delta Theta together. His goal as an OWL was to make sure he could help freshmen similarly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to make sure everyone has a friend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reed also pointed out how the event brings people together.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake a look at your FLEX,\u201d he told students. \u201cYou represent the ethnicity, socioeconomics and people of the great state of California, and you are individuals, but by the end of the day, you\u2019re going to be a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Keith Lord said that not only do community organizations benefit from La Verne\u2019s work, but La Verne students also benefit. After working with the Boys and Girls Club at a previous year\u2019s event, Lord said students listened to workers tell stories about how they have impacted the lives of young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe students were inspired,\u201d Lord said. \u201cIt was powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First-year students, Orientation Week Leaders, faculty and staff members provided community service at various sites around the Inland Valley & Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283,4814],"tags":[629],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","category-laverne-edu-news-university-campus-life","tag-flex","ulv_author-university-of-la-verne","legacy_tags-community","legacy_tags-community-engagement-day","legacy_tags-freshman-la-verne-experience","legacy_tags-jonathan-reed","legacy_tags-la-verne","legacy_tags-university-of-la-verne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n