There's more to college life than books, learning and fraternizing. Claremont McKenna College incoming freshmen also get a lesson in community service involvement even before the start of classes.
Evidence of that came last weekend when some 200 first-year students did volunteer work for nine charities.
One of the charities was La Verne-based Sowing Seeds for Life, a regional food bank that provides food, water, personal care items and social services for some 6,000 needy people per month in the East San Gabriel Valley.
On Saturday morning, Aug. 31, 19 first-year students and 4 upper-class advisors showed up at Sowing Seeds’ headquarters at DPI Labs in La Verne prepared to go to work.
The volunteer work is part of Claremont McKenna's Orientation prior to the beginning of classes on Tuesday, Sept 4. Amy Bibbens, the director of the school’s Center for Civic Engagement, said this is the 21st year such a program has been in place.
On Saturday, the students were bussed to the nine various sites, which included Sowing Seeds for Life.
Vicki Brown, the founder and CEO of Sowing Seeds for Life, along with SSFL volunteers Pam Archibald and Jan Inger, were on hand to supervise. They had plenty of work for the students, who divided up in groups to sort and organize boxes and boxes of food and personal care items that had been donated.
Claremont McKenna's involvement is another indication of how Sowing Seeds for Life is growing. Students from the University of La Verne and several area high schools, including Damien and St. Lucy’s, have been doing periodic volunteer work for SSFL in recent years. Now Claremont McKenna is on board.
“These young people are great,” Brown said during Saturday’s session. “The work they are doing is invaluable in helping us put on our twice-a-month food pantries and other charitable activities. And to be connected with such a prestigious institution as Claremont McKenna College means so much.”
Sowing Seeds for Life, created by Brown in 2007, provides food, water, personal care items and services to some 6,000 people in need per month. A food pantry is held the first and third Wednesday of every month at DPI Labs, 1350 Arrow Highway. Brown is also the CEO of DPI Labs, an aerospace manufacturing company.
More information about Sowing Seeds for Life and its upcoming celebrity golf tournament can be found at www.sowingseedsforlife.org.
Here is a roster of the Claremont McKenna students who pitched in to help Sowing Seeds on Saturday:
Freshmen: Kevin Castro, Redwood City; Renee Lundgren, Dubai; Alicia Fraustro, Anaheim; John Seylar, Minneapolis; Kennedy Holland, Vancouver; Max Urman, Denver; Franesca Hidalgo, Cedar Rapids, Iowa ; Emily McKinnon, Yarmouth, Me., Jessica Azerad, White Plains, N.Y.; Tamara Skinner, Phoenix; Kimaya de Silva, Sri Lanka; Kanika Vaish, India; Taylor Allen, Chicago; Erik Anderson, Palo Alto; Nitin Kuppanda, Corona; Tim Plummer, Upland; Emily Morse, Mercer Island, Wash.; Lindsay Slocum, San Francisco; Henry Wei, Saratoga, Ca.
Advisors: Caitlin Highland, Atlanta; Kelsey Gohn, Lancaster; Lindsey Betts, Aliso Viejo; Moe Adbul-Rahim, Amman, Jordan.