UNC Asheville Introduces Largest Freshman Class to Community Service;
Some 733 Students to Work at 28 Sites

During Bulldog Day 2003, freshmen worked in the Claxton Elementary School garden

UNC Asheville continues its tradition of introducing freshmen to community service through a massive community work day Monday, Aug. 16. This eighth annual "Bulldog Day: A Time of Service" will send more than 800 students, faculty and staff to 28 local service projects to perform some 1,600 hours of community service. It will be the largest Bulldog Day in the history of the University.

Coordinated by UNC Asheville’s Key Center for Service-Learning, the community service day is an important part of a four-day new freshman orientation program that begins Saturday, Aug. 14.

"We have found that Bulldog Day is not just about one day of community service," said Lloyd Weinberg, associate director of the Key Center for Service-Learning. "It’s often the first day of a long relationship. Many students return to the sites to volunteer on their own."

This is the second year that Molly Murtola has served as Bulldog Day student coordinator. "It’s an honor to be involved in such a great program that literally benefits all involved," said Murtola. "Bulldog Day is an awesome way to expand the horizons of new freshmen and to introduce them to the community and to service-learning."

Some 733 freshmen and 85 faculty and staff will take on a wide range of projects. Teams will assist with building a Habitat for Humanity home, sort food donations at Manna Food Bank and help the YMI prepare for the Goombay Festival.

Other teams will lend a hand to ABCCM, Asheville Art Museum, Brooks Howell Home, Earthhaven, Emma Family Resource Center, Harvest House, Helpmate, Hillcrest and Pisgah View Headstart, Irene Wortham Center, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, Lewis Rathburn Center, Mountain Care, Quality Forward, UNCA Campus Ministries Peace Garden, WNC Nature Center and YWCA. Bulldog Day participants will also help out at local schools, including Asheville High, Asheville Middle, Asheville Preschool, Claxton Elementary, Dickson Elementary, Emma Elementary, Hall Fletcher Elementary, Jones Primary and Vance Elementary.

Claxton Elementary is a regular Bulldog Day work site. This year UNC Asheville students will work one-on-one with students in the classroom and will also help sort and take inventory of old and new textbooks.

"Bulldog Day is an important resource for Claxton. Every one of our teachers has requested two or more UNCA students to work in their classroom during Bulldog Day this year," said Claxton Assistant Principal James Ratleff. "The freshmen will work one-on-one with our students, which often makes a big impact on both. Last year, a UNCA student who volunteered in one of our classrooms during Bulldog Day came back and volunteered three days per week through the entire school year."

Bulldog Day begins at 9 a.m. on the UNC Asheville Quad, where Chancellor Jim Mullen will speak to the service teams. Then the students and leaders will board buses, vans and cars for transport to their projects. Teams will return to campus around noon for lunch together in the Dining Hall.

Media Contacts:

• Lloyd Weinberg, UNCA Key Center for Service-Learning Associate Director, 828/251-6400
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526