Workday 2008
Work Day 2008 could not have been favored by better weather, demonstrating once again the Work Day Committee’s impressive attention to every detail. As usual, hundreds of willing workers gathered in front of Gladfelter before being herded to the grassy bank below the building for panoramic group photos. They all came together again in the late afternoon for picnic, music, awards and door prizes at Morris’ Community Pavilion. In the hours between, students, faculty and staff scattered across campus to work on everything from planting native grasses to building pavilions.
Work Day is always a visual feast, but sometimes the sounds and words are just as compelling. There was poetry: group leader Sadie Adams ’09 inspiring her workers by reading Mary Oliver’s “Tasting the Wild Grapes.” Prose: Forestry/Environmental Studies Professor David Ellum, overseeing the removal of exotic invasive plants, noting “Rule No. 1&endash;if you’re not sure what it is, ask.” Song: “We are the mulchers... the mighty, mighty mulchers,” belted out by, well, the mulchers. And, of course, the usual whoops and hollers reverberating around campus, from Gladfelter to the pond to Morris’ Pavilion.
Why do we do it, aside from an excuse to call off classes and enjoy the beauty of an Appalachian spring? As Dean of Work Ian Robertson explained in a campus e-mail, Work Day is “the collective story of shoring up river banks, cleaning up after tornadoes and hurricanes, and celebrating community with sweat equity.” That says it pretty nicely...
Images by R.L. Guyer, Vanessa Emery '10, and Morgan Davis '02. Text by Ben Anderson.
