The city of Oxford transformed a day of terror into one of community service and remembering yesterday.

 Greg May was one of eight firefighters from the Oxford Fire Department who volunteered. He believes the best way to remember those who gave their lives for their country is through service. “That’s the way they would want it, to be remembered that way,” May said.

 The first annual 9-11 Day of Service and Remembrance at the Oxford Activity Center was put together by Volunteer Oxford. The event, which began at 12:30 p.m., consisted of volunteers being sent across the community during a memorial service honoring the local police, firefighters and soldiers. Later in the day, there was a dinner for the volunteers and officers.

 Ryan Upshaw, the admissions coordinator for the University of Mississippi’s Honors College, volunteered at the event. Upshaw saw the day as a perfect opportunity for students to help out in the community and for him to do the same.

“I wanted to come out and help with the 9-11 Day of Service and Remembrance, and I just felt like this was a good way to give back to the Oxford community,” Upshaw said.

The 175 registered volunteers arrived and were quickly put to work around the community. Four groups were organized in different areas of volunteer work. Three of the groups boxed up donated food and took it to More Than a Meal, Oxford Pantry and Love Packs. These three organizations were created to provide those in need with food. Love Packs distributes food to children, the Oxford Pantry gives families in need one week supplies of food and More Than a Meal gives tutoring, health screenings and fellowship to families.  

 The fourth group worked with the Oxford Community Garden Association to help beautify Avent Park. More than the expected volunteers arrived, which created two additional groups. One was sent to walk dogs at the Humane Society, while the other placed new mulch in Avent Park.  

 Kelly Shannon, director of Volunteer Oxford, was overly impressed with the volunteer turnout. “The sense of volunteerism in the community and the possibility of the university and the city and the county being able to work together has definitely made it come to fruition,” Shannon said.  

Her plan to create a volunteer program on 9-11 had been brewing for months and was made possible after joining forces with the university’s Associated Student Body. 

 Of the volunteers, three-fourths were either university students or faculty. The rest of the volunteers were local police, firefighters, boy scout troops and community residents.

 Rusty Woods, scout master of Troop 146, brought a group of 15 troops to volunteer. Woods said volunteering is one of the main roles in being a scout. “For a lot of requirements we have community service hours to complete, and this was a great opportunity for all the kids to get involved in different aspects of the community,” he said.

The memorial service at 5 p.m. began with the university’s Airforce ROTC presentation of the colors after which the Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Elizabeth Anne Smith. Mayor Pat Patterson and Assistant Dean Steven Monroe spoke on the topic of changing 9-11 from a day of just remembrance to a day of community participation. “There is no better way to remember those lost and a way to acknowledge the tragedy of 9-11 than through community projects such as this,” Patterson said.

Plans for next year’s Day of Remembrance and Service are already underway after such a positive turn out, Shannon said.

Getting into college is a game — the college admissions game.

Former Yale professor William Deresiewicz spoke at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Fall Convocation Monday night about college students.

According to Deresiewicz, the college admissions system has created a funnel for getting in that is creating a narrow student — one who is part Ivy League elite, also known as a 19th century aristocrat, and part 20th century technocrat.

“You take advanced classes, standardized tests and spend the rest of your time on extracurricular activities,” he said. 

“There is no such thing as time off; there is no time for yourself.”

On top of that, the student also has to be athletic, personable and passionate about a particular subject, but not so much so that they slack off on all the other subjects.

If that isn’t enough, the student has to be committed to service and leadership.

“It is not enough to be in student government — you have to run it,” Deresiewicz said.

And this system of resume-building does not stop once students get into college, Deresiewicz said. 

Students have to continue to strive for excellence and not do anything unless it improves their resumes for work or graduate school.

Unfortunately, Deresiewicz said, students on this path look better on paper than they do in reality.

“The system has taught you to avoid risk,” he said. “You learn to measure yourself by other’s standards and not your own. Thinking stops once you leave the classroom.”

Students are not taking time to learn about themselves or what they really want to do, but rather are becoming what other people want them to become.

Deresiewicz thinks students should resist these molds.

“Being resistive means taking risks, not playing it safe,” he said. 

“We have to unthink what we know. Reach your own conclusions.”

Deresiewicz said that to do this, students have to learn that solitude and loneliness are different things. Solitude is actually a good thing, which allows a student time for inner communication.

Deresiewicz recommended four broad ways to seek internal knowledge through solitude: sitting still, whether by the shore or in your room; keeping a journal; having long conversations with a close friend; or through reading.

“By friendship, I do not mean 968 friends on Facebook bouncing messages off of each other,” he said. “That is not friendship, that is a distraction.”

Deresiewicz said one of the best things about college is a door that students can shut and be alone with their thoughts.

“A liberal arts education should give you recognition of yourself — humanities are a different form of knowledge than science,” he said. “Science is about external reality, while humanities are concerned with internal reality.

“It is not quantifiable or variable, and it changes from person to person.”

from the Daily Mississippian by Cain Madden

Dynamic individuals interested in fighting poverty through education are encouraged to apply for positions in the North Mississippi Volunteers in Service to America Project at the University of Mississippi.

The project is being funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The university previously had one VISTA volunteer who worked in the College of Liberal Arts. [Read more...]