Meghan Zimbler
Contributing Writer
Walking to the outdoor track on Tuesday morning, I was overwhelmed by the massive crowds. I was about to take on my next task of being a Springfield College student: Humanics in Action Day.
With tons of people searching for where they needed to go, all I could see were rakes and wheelbarrows surrounding the signs with the project number and project sites. Everyone was scrambling looking for the right place to go, especially freshmen like myself.
After sending a text to my NSO leader, confused as to where to go, I got the answer and finally found my group. We stood there for about 20 minutes until President Richard Flynn’s opening address was over.
We all charged out of the track area, following our site leader. My group in particular went about three blocks away to do yard work for a local neighbor.
Walking to the destination, I did not know what to expect. All I kept hearing about was where my friends were going and reading to elementary students and thought that was one of the only things available during Humanics in Action Day.
Little did I know how good it felt to do this for a local Springfield citizen. We walked up to the house and got right to work.
Our site leader directed us into different groups and we all started our different tasks: mowing the lawn, pulling weeds and doing a basic clean-up to get things looking good.
The air smelled like fresh-cut grass and hard work, and the yard looked very clean after we finished. Senior Kelsey Davey thought it “felt good to be helping the community.”
Realizing how laborious pulling out weeds and small stumps from the ground was, my entire group felt accomplished seeing the change to a project that we just started a few hours ago. I think the best thing about this experience is the difference we all made by working together.
Freshman Melanie Stafford felt like she “was giving back and doing something selfless in the act.”
The day as a whole truly made everyone feel awesome, especially since it was within the city of Springfield.
After we finished all the weeding, mowing and just about everything else, it was time to clean up our equipment and head back to campus. We walked away taking the rakes and other gardening tools and left.
For me, Humanics in Action Day was a great experience. I learned how good it feels to do something for other people, and doing it with the whole school felt even better.
Arriving back to the school, with the smell of cooked food in the air, I looked around at everyone that was coming back as well. I saw how happy everyone was, hopefully because they had just done something that made them feel the same way I did.
“I believe that it is always good to help others whether it is in need or not,” said freshman Max Flannigan, summing up Humanics in Action Day.