First-Year Service Day Reflection

First-Year Service Day Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed First-Year Service Day for I have always valued giving back to society in a myriad of ways. I, therefore, fully support of the idea of Service Day as I feel as though I benefited from it just as much as the community. Service Day benefited me by helping me connect to not only the Rome community, but also to my first-year seminar class. I was able to bond with my classmates while taking care of the environment. Conor and I strengthened our friendship over a dead possum and the remnants of a car accident as we began to create scenarios in which the items we found discarded on the shoulder of the road were connected. And, though picking up trash was not a glamorous job, we knew our work was valued. In fact, two elderly ladies slowed to roll down their car windows and thank us for cleaning the sides of the road. It was quite reassuring to know that the community recognized and appreciated what we were doing. It filled me with a sense of pride to represent Berry College and its mission statement. I felt as though I actually was making a difference, like I was important, and that thought felt incredibly rewarding.
First-Year Service Day was an amazing opportunity for us to demonstrate the Berry College motto, “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” It was a very gratifying process and I can only guess that Martha Berry would have been as proud of us as I was. My hope is that we inspired at least one person who drove past us picking up garbage to make a difference in their community and that their actions will inspire others to get involved as well and so on until everyone is lending a hand to their community; the world would become a beautiful utopia of everybody caring about more than just