First-Years share holiday cheer, raise funds for charity

Demonstrating generosity from the heart and soul, Skidmore's first-year students hosted a flower sale to mark Valentine's Day and raise funds for a local non-profit organization. 

In the days leading up to the Feb. 14 holiday, students took pre-paid orders for the flowers (both carnations and roses) and contacted the recipients to stop by Case Desk on Valentine's Day to receive their flowers, accompanied by a note from the giver.

The event was the successful cap to Winter Carnival weekend, which is traditionally hosted by the Freshman Class. A fun way to end the weekend, the flower sale also helped raise awareness of community needs, according to class officers Xavier Hatten (Cleveland, Ohio), president, Emmeline Taylor (Denver, Colo.), social chair, and Brianna Wellen (Freeport, Maine), secretary, who were on delivery duty Monday afternoon at Case Desk. Other class officers areLaura Venner (Mill Valley, Calif.), treasurer, and Will Makepeace (San Francisco, Calif.), vice president.

Proceeds of the sale will go to the Franklin Community Center. Taylor, speaking on behalf of the officers, said,"The Franklin Community Center is an organization that works to provide aid in many forms to families struggling with low incomes. Valentine's Day is a holiday about celebrating all the different types of love and so a rose sale to show love for one another and for the Saratoga Springs community seemed to be very fitting."

She continued, "This project served as a reminder that life is about a lot more than simply a single person. It brought to light the fact that being a helpful, active member in society is necessary in order to have a well-functioning and respected community. It was also important for us to remind the Skidmore community about the importance of community service. Students can really make a difference in other people's lives in simple and small ways. Within the next year our council will work harder than ever to keep community service at the forefront of the minds of every member of the Skidmore community. We've set the foundation for a larger process to take place."

The first-year class officers are members of the SGA Interclass Council, a group of 20 officers from Skidmore's four classes chaired by Elizabeth (Libby) Gronquist, president of the Class of 2011. She was instrumental in rewriting the operating code to broaden the ICC's focus beyond the campus boundaries into the Saratoga community.

New ICC guidelines require the group to host at least one event to benefit a Saratoga Springs charity, or to commit to service on behalf of a community organization. Said Gronquist, "The aim was to foster and increase ties with the Saratoga community through the class officers."

This year, ICC has embraced the Franklin Community Center with events that have included an emergency food drive (which took place in the fall, after the center posted an appeal on Facebook), a toy drive over Junior Ring Weekend, and the Freshman Class Flower Drive, which raised about $200. Gronquist gave kudos to the first-year students. "They spearheaded this event?and the entire weekend of activities?and ICC supported with additional manpower."

She noted that the new ICC focus "is in keeping with a secondary mission that ICC is working on this year, which is to foster good community relations and a sense of charity among the class officers."