September
12 , 2003 Second*Saturday
to Introduce New Students to Valley
On
Saturday, September 13, more than 400 new students at Mount Holyoke
will explore the Pioneer Valley by participating in Second*Saturday,
an annual day-long program that includes a wide variety of recreational
activities and community-service projects led by upper-class students,
faculty, staff, and alumnae.
“Each project is designed to introduce students to some
of the rich resources and opportunities available in the surrounding
towns and neighborhoods, and to encourage their connection to
their new community,” said Catharine Melhorn, program coordinator
and Hammond-Douglass Professor of Music.
Reading to children at South Hadley’s Gaylord Library; riding
the Norwottuck Rail Trail Bike Path, which connects Northampton
and Amherst; exercising the dogs at the Dakin Animal Shelter in
Leverett; visiting Emily Dickinson’s Amherst home; and cleaning
up the playground at Springfield’s North End Community Center
are just a few of the 34 activities in which new students can
participate.
Launched four years ago as part of the College’s new-student
orientation, Second*Saturday, named for the weekend it takes place,
gives students a broader vision of their new home, according to
Melhorn. “I always feel sad,” Melhorn said,”when
I encounter students whose experience of the off-campus community
is limited to the Holyoke Mall or Main Street, Northampton, students
who have never been to South Hadley Falls, or hiked a trail in
the Notch, or visited the city of Holyoke.”
For more information on Second*Saturday, please contact Catharine
Melhorn at 413-538-2018 or 413-548-1098, or at
cmelhorn@mtholyoke.edu.
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