Mayor Karl Dean and Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher sent off Belmont’s Class of 2015 and transfer students early Aug. 22 to serve Nashville through the annual SERVE Project.
Some 1,400 students volunteered in their new hometown at 38 local non-profit organizations, including Feed the Children, YMCA, Second Harvest Food Bank and Metro Beautification.
“Belmont has been great friends to this city. Belmont has become one of the most exciting and one of the most interesting schools in the country and you see that manifest in many different ways,” said Dean, mentioning the University’s community service efforts during the May 2010 flood and how students strive to positively impact Nashville.
An annual Welcome Week tradition for more than a decade, SERVE provides a perfect tie-in to Belmont’s ongoing commitment to engage students in their community and encourage the values of service on both a local and global level.
“We really hope this sets the stage so that our students understand what they are doing at Belmont,” said Director of Outreach Micah Weedman. “We do this because we want to make an impact into the community, and we do it because symbolically it communicates what we expect of students while they are here.”
Students constructed rain barrels, sorted thrift store goods, assembled food bank packages and stenciled storm drains, among other community service projects.
The project gives “a sense of service and sacrifice that comes only from serving others,” said senior history major Seth Ross-Granda, also serving as a Tower Team leader for the freshmen.
