Freshmen and new students Saturday assisted with community service projects throughout Franklin and the surrounding area as part of the college’s FOCUS Day program.
More than 250 students participated in the 11th annual FOCUS Day program. Students traveled to 28 work sites throughout Franklin and the surrounding area including the historic Artcraft Theater, Girls Inc., the Interchurch Food Pantry and Camp Atterbury and Allendale, among others.
Doug Grant, FOCUS Day coordinator, said the goal of FOCUS Day is to help new students get more acclimated to the community, but also to help them make friends as they begin their careers at Franklin College.
“FOCUS is my favorite day of the year,” Grant said. “Most importantly, we’re excited about the fact that our new students, who here for their first full day, are going to make some new friends among their classmates, get to know some upperclassmen, some faculty, some staff, administrators and the local community.”
FOCUS, he said, stands for Franklin offering the community unselfish service, part of the college’s initiative to foster leadership, community service and lifelong learning.
With help from faculty and staff members, students will generate over 1,500 hours of service, Grant said.
Students were paired with their roommates, classmates and several of the more than 120 Franklin College staff and student volunteers.
Indiana’s newest lawmakers – all Republicans – are part of a powerful freshman class in the U.S. House of Representatives that claim to have changed the national focus and debate. But their experiences have been as personal as they are political while they’ve worked to balance the pressure of new jobs with the responsibilities that come with creating national policy in a turbulent economic time.
Franklin's Religious Life Team and Habitat for Humanity are both using their Spring break to help others out of state. The Religious Life Team is going to Atlanta, while Habitat for Humanity is going to Lexington, Ky.
A new school year officially began Tuesday as the annual Bell Ceremony welcomed Franklin College's class of 2012. Orientation for freshmen began Aug. 22 and included an ice cream social at president Moseley's house, a community service project and a Dave and Rae concert in the Branigin Room.
