Wooster Alumni in 27 Cities Turn Out to Give Back During Scots in Service 2011

Hundreds volunteer at food banks, shelters, and other service agencies

WOOSTER, Ohio, Sept. 19, 2011 – From New York to Nashville and Denver to Detroit, hundreds of College of Wooster alumni and their families turned out Saturday to volunteer at food banks, homeless shelters, and other community service organizations during the eleventh annual Scots in Service day. Almost 800 Wooster people in 27 cities participated. 

In Atlanta, alumni and parents of current students sorted and packed books for Books for Africa, an organization that has shipped more than 24 million donated textbooks and library books to 45 African countries since 1988.

In Nashville, Wooster volunteers helped prepare planting beds for winter crops at Perk Urban Farm, which supplies produce to a local nonprofit that serves 500 meals a week to homeless and working poor families in Davidson County.

Here in Wooster, local alumni were joined by scores of current students, as well as faculty and staff, at nine different locations. They painted at Every Woman’s House, built shelves and repaired the porch at MOCA House, helped with landscaping and clean up at Wayne Elementary School, and collected computers and other electronics for recycling.

Robyn Romano, who graduated from Wooster in 1995, has participated in Scots in Service for many years, and has been a leader in the Atlanta area since 2008. For her, the annual event is an opportunity to give back, but also to reconnect with fellow alums.

“We are such a small school, but no matter what year you were or when you were on campus, you have this common bond that stretches across the years and over the miles,” she said. “I think my experience at Wooster and how I feel about getting together with Wooster people is what Scots in Service says about us as a whole. We love to connect and share, and it doesn’t matter how old or young you are.”

For many alumni, participating in Scots in Service is a natural extension of the community service activities they did as students.

Jeffrey Hough ’80 and Alaina Hession ’04 were the national directors for this year’s effort. “We couldn’t have done it without them, or all of our alumni and parent leaders who put the projects together in each city, and those who turned out to help,” said Sharon Rice, assistant director of alumni relations, who serves as staff liaison for this alumni-driven initiative. 

Photos from a number of participating cities are posted on Flickr.

The College of Wooster is an independent liberal arts college, nationally recognized for excellence in teaching and a curriculum built around mentored undergraduate research. Every Wooster senior works one-on-one with a faculty adviser to create an original research project, written work, performance or art exhibit. Founded in 1866, the college enrolls approximately 2,000 students.