Tabor students shovel snow
Staff writer
About 100 Tabor College students, faculty, and staff bundled up and braved frigid winter temperatures to shovel snow for Hillsboro residents after president Jules Glanzer canceled classes due to snowfall and designated Feb. 5 as “Serve Day.”
Glanzer said the purpose of giving students the day off was to encourage them to serve others and care for people in need
“People will remember our students coming out to help them in a time of need,” Glanzer said. “It’s special because our students get a life lesson on a day when they are not sitting in the classroom.”
Those who participated went door-to-door clearing driveways on campus as well as houses nearby the college.
Campus pastor Jake Schenk led a student group in the morning that included several cheerleaders and some soccer players who all shoveled snow at houses in which people had requested removal assistance.
Director of communications Katrina Hancock said Schenk’s group hit a bunch of houses and were ready to stop for the day by 11:30 a.m. due to the large amount labor that goes into shoveling drifted snow.
“Several elderly people called and were put on our list,” Hancock said, “It’s a free-for-all. Anybody who called we said ‘Yes’.”
Director of admissions Lee Waldron led another group of students in the afternoon after speaking to them at the student center on campus.
“Our agenda is to shovel driveways,” he told students. “There is no rhyme or reason to it. It’s just a matter of serving the community.”
Waldron told students that Glanzer also wanted students to shovel snow at faculty houses as a token of appreciation as well as shovel any houses along the way that had not been cleared.
Along with the morning and afternoon groups of students, a number of snow shovels were left in the student center for any students who might want to participate in the event, Waldron said.
“I’ve never seen snow like this,” student Jessica Garcia of California said.
Students were not required to participate, she said, but those who participated seemed to enjoy serving others despite cold temperatures that topped out at 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I just love that we were challenged, as a school, to be able to serve and given the opportunity to go out into the community, rather than sitting in our dorms wasting our day away,” student Beth Nesser of Florence said.
“It was very meaningful,” student Catherine Christie said. “I love serving.”