Janelle K. Jung '04
Apple Fest

The “Second*Saturday” apple fest, sponsored by South Hadley's Stony Brook Church, is an event I will remember and treasure. Arriving at the nearby Olesiuk Orchards was an exciting experience, especially for students like myself (I'm from Hawaii) who had never before seen a real apple tree, let alone picked and enjoyed apples straight off the tree. Groups of MHC women and their local “host” families wandered the groves of shady, gnarled apple trees, chattering, and plucking fruit, then chewing, nodding, or puckering up as the apple demanded. Staggering under the weight of bags filled to overflowing with ripe Cortlands and McIntoshes, we headed back to the cars and followed our host families back to their homes for the second stage of apple fest 2000.

Warmly welcomed into beautiful New England homes, and entertained by adorable children, groups of four or five students each set to work, making traditional apple recipes for the upcoming baking contest. Bunches of sticky, floured students cored apples and rolled pie crust, making both a traditional apple pie and another apple specialty. Later, gathering back at the Stony Brook Church, the pies and other desserts were judged by a panel of Mount Holyoke professors, the winners were named, and the entries enjoyed by everyone. My group had the added satisfaction of winning first place in the specialty division with our apple maple dumplings, but all the students returned with full stomachs, smiles, and new memories, and all were utterly sick of apples.

Boran Lee '04
Canoeing

After about ten minutes of canoeing on a Connecticut River trip sponsored by the South Hadley Police Department, I thought to myself, “What possessed me to choose canoeing?” My shoulders and back were knotted from the paddling, and sweat was trickling down the side of my face from the sun. Then we stopped at a beach where a volleyball net had been set up. We played two games of volleyball, at which none of us were any good, and ate burnt hamburgers. But somehow I found myself enjoying it all. It was nice to kind of relax and enjoy the scenery. What I really liked was meeting the different people and listening to them talk about themselves. Two police officers, Steve and Mark, were with us and talked about what their work is like and why they chose to be officers. Two girls spoke French, and someone else talked about what it's like to live in Idaho.

Jen Constantinou '04
Dakin Animal Shelter

The Dakin Animal Shelter was my first choice on the long list of activities available for students participating in the “Second*Saturday” events. I was really looking forward to taking care of the animals, although I did have some reservations about handling the cats—since, unfortunately, I am allergic to them! Our small group of six, including our student liaison, Lauren Ruffin '03, and our group leader, Chris Aspaas, joined the Peace Pagoda team and drove to Leverett. After dropping off the others at their destination, we arrived at the animal shelter. My first impression was that the facility appeared small, but we learned that although Dakin was not a huge facility, many animals, such as dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs, were sheltered and well cared for there. We spent the day cleaning out cages, mopping floors, feeding the animals, and trying to avoid the cats.

All had gone well, and we were just about to finish up bringing the dogs back from their walks, when we tried to put Mr. Miller (a sweet tempered little dog) back into his cage. He just didn't feel like going back there! He took off running outside and down the road, and thank goodness someone finally caught up to him. He came back safe, sound, and happy, because he was in the process of being adopted, just as he decided to take his little stroll.

The “Second*Saturday” program was lots of fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. Not only did we have the chance to spend our time helping the great people who run the shelter, but we also met new first-year students.

Kristine V. Rowans '04
Leverett Peace Pagoda

I woke up September 16, chilled in the cold morning, vaguely wondering exactly what it was that I would be doing that day. It was “Second*Saturday,” the last orientation event scheduled for first-year students. We would be volunteering at various destinations, and I had enlisted with Group 5, which was supposed to go to a place called the Peace Pagoda.

There were about seven of us in the group, including our student leader, Julia. We were all taken for a forty-minute drive by ride van to the base of a forest covered hill, then left to trudge the rest of the way up on foot. All travelers, unless infirm or elderly, had to take that final trek without the aid of automobiles, to preserve the natural setting of the area. It wasn't too far to go, though, and the path was wide and made of loose gravel. Julia led us up about halfway before she stopped and had us veer off onto a cardboard and carpet path laid out on green grass toward a two-story wood house. We were to meet a wonderful member of the Nipponzan Myohoji order of Buddhism, Sister Claire. She was the one who guided our little band the rest of the way up, while beating a smooth stick to a resonating prayer drum. She also explained to us more of the history of the pagoda, or stupa, as it is called in Sanskrit.

The Peace Pagoda, built some years back by around a thousand volunteers, is led by the monks and nuns of Nipponzan Myohoji. It is, she explained, a place to promote world peace, and was also a place badly in need of repainting. That was where we came in. Not to help with the actual repainting, which wouldn't be done for another week, but to pick up the pieces and chips of paint that had so far been hosed and peeled from the stupa. None of us had really known what would be required of us, but gathering paint chips from the ground hadn't occurred to anyone.

Yet we all had fun that day, sweeping, vacuuming, and dumping paint fragments into buckets. We circled the circumference of the pagoda, working steadily for a little over an hour and a half, taking pictures at intervals. When it was time to eat we all took our paper bag lunches to the man-made pond nearby, admired our surroundings, and fed the fish. When it was finally time to go, we left the space around the Peace Pagoda cleaner than it had been. With the thanks of Sister Claire warm in our ears, we knew that our help had been appreciated.

Brittany Huber '04
Bryant Homestead

As I left campus by bus with my “Second*Saturday” group bound for the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington, I was surprised by how quickly I lost of sense of where I was! I suddenly realized that while I have been at Mount Holyoke for two weeks, I have only once ventured beyond the Village Commons. I was very excited to get a better sense of place in my new home. I hail from California, and the landscape of the wooded hills surrounding the homestead was at once unfamiliar and yet remarkably universal. I found myself whispering lines from the poetry of Robert Frost and of Bryant himself as I stood admiring the land that inspired them. Our guide through the home, Ellice Gonzalez of the Trustees of Reservations, was friendly and knowledgeable and shared with us her insider's view of historic restoration and preservation. The home was fascinating, and I reveled in being able to see the environment that inspired such a brilliant poet.

After lunch on the veranda we continued on to the Buckland Historical Museum, where we saw some wonderful antiques and historic documents, including the student roster from the inaugural session of Mount Holyoke College, and many documents from the life of MHC founder Mary Lyon. Although the historic sights were amazing, the highlight of my day was meeting and talking with students whom I may not have met otherwise. The day was filled with conversation, and it is wonderful to know that there are more familiar faces on campus for all of us now.