Club Profile: The College Community Leaders

By George Riley

1. First off, your group is called “CCL.” What exactly does it stand for?

This stands for The College Community Leaders.

2. What are the goals and objectives of the group?

The mission of the CCL is two-fold. The first objective is to improve town-gown relations. During the 2003-2004 school year, The Princeton Review ranked us at having the 9th worst town-gown relations in America. This year, we have fallen out of the Top 20, but you can still sense animosity between certain community members and the college. We’re hoping through working continuously with local agencies, we can help improve these relations. The second part of our mission is to increase male involvement in community service. Nationally, there are about three to four females to every one male doing community service, and we’d like to see these numbers come closer together.

3. How many students participate in your group in one way or another?

We’ve got about 40 to 50 active students right now in the club, not all of whom attend meetings, but certainly participate in projects when they can. The group is split about 50-50 between male and female.

4. What are some projects that your group has been involved with in the past?

One of the original projects is working with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Adams County. Unfortunately, not every kid who applies to have a Big Brother or Big Sister is able to get one, because there are more “littles” than “bigs”. So, although we are unable to provide this weekly commitment as well, we do monthly activities with the kids on the waiting list, so they do have that mentor-type person that they can look up to. We’ve brought them to campus before for a picnic, arts and crafts/cartoons/dinner in Servo, and a Halloween party in Lamp Post. The next event being planned with them is a Valentine’s Day party here on campus. Another original project is the work we do with Seeds to Success. This is a work-release program through the local prison, that teaches inmates close to getting out about necessary life skills. A major portion of this is a large garden that they maintain, grow food, and then sell the food in their market. We’ve helped them last year maintain the garden, plant, take down a fairly large greenhouse, and move two sheds. We plan on working with both of these organizations more as we continue to grow. Last fall, we also held a letter-writing campaign for US servicemen serving overseas. We send close to 400 letters and countless Christmas cards, contributed by both Gettysburg residents and Gettysburg students. These packages arrived to the servicemen on Christmas day, and they were pleased to receive them.

5. What are some things the group is currently doing?

As well as the original programs, we’ll be starting a few new ones this semester. One new program is Adopt-A-Highway, where our group is “adopting” a two-mile stretch of road in Gettysburg, that we will be in charge of maintaining and cleaning a few times a year. Another program is Adopt-A-Grandparent, where Gettysburg students will be matched with a resident of the Green Acres rest home, and spend one or two hours with them a week. One of our larger, new projects, is work we will be doing with the Adams County Housing Authority. Each year, the Housing Authority buys houses/property in the county, fixes up the houses to make them liveable, and then sells them as low-income housing. We’ll be assisting them with the renovating, doing things like painting and minor construction projects.

6. I understand that the Student Senate just granted your group $1,000 does your group plan to do anything in particular with that money?

We received the $1000 from Senate to help fund a motivational speaker, Curtis Zimmerman, that we plan on bringing to campus in April. Last spring, our organization applied for a grant through mtvU.com and Youth Venture, one that supported upcoming community service initiatives. After a long application process, we were selected as one of the winners, and received $1100 to help fund this speaker. Zimmerman is a nationally-known motivational speaker who works at getting college students to understand their full potential. In his speech, “Living Life at Performance Level,” he will speak to this (as well as mime, juggle, and eat fire, for which he is also known). His total fee for speaking is $3500, but we went to Senate and asked for monetary help, because we feel that this is something that can be of a great benefit to everyone on campus, not just those in the CCL. While we are still short on money, we are actively pursuing help from other organizations on campus. We are grateful for the support that Student Senate has already provided with us in this matter.

7. Why should someone get involved with your group?

Our group prides itself on providing a no-pressure environment to accomplish the tasks that we are trying to accomplish, and that’s not to say that the other community service organizations on campus aren’t like that. Many of the community partners we work with are only worked with through us, so if any of these specific agencies interest people, we encourage them to come out.

8. Has being involved in the group been a rewarding experience for you?

It’s helped me meet a lot of new people in the community and creating strong ties with some of them (half of what we’re trying to do). I’ve met a lot of great people on campus through it as well, and I enjoy being able to help others in the community while really enjoying it myself, and I know a lot of our members would say the same thing.

9. How does someone get involved with your group? Who do they contact?
Anyone can get involved, even if only for one specific project. There are no minimum hour requirements, just what you can give.