PEA students give of their efforts, talents and learn about many of their neighbors

Exeter, NH (April 8, 2008)—More than 1,000 students from Phillips Exeter Academy will hit area streets, woods, beaches, shelters and businesses Wednesday during the 2008 Community Service Action Day. PEA students will select from more than 60 organizations and fan out across the Exeter area with helping hands. Students will clean beaches, parks, farms, stables, and repair structures. They will mend and paint walls and fences, organize and stock offices and act as caregivers, among other activities.

This year’s event offers a new collaboration between the Academy’s Sustainability Program and Exeter’s Social Service Organization, (ESSO).

“We want our students to get into the New Hampshire woods, onto our beaches, camps, farms, homeless shelters, low-income residences among others,” says PEA Community Service Coordinator Laurie Loosigian.

After a mild winter in 2006, Loosigian, Sustainability Coordinator Jennifer Wilhelm, school officials and student leaders decided there was an opportunity to make the schools annual clean-up initiative better fit the needs of the students and the community.  

Formerly called “Clean-Up Day,” school administrators felt the event could be about much more. “We wanted to amplify these two programs (Sustainability and ESSO) and try to arrange activities around specific interests that students may have,” says Assistant Principal Tom Hassan. “We wanted this annual activity to be motivating, a chance for students to learn something, and for each student to grow in understanding their communities. We’re sparking the kids’ interests for a longer term.”

Wilhelm says activities with more of an environmental focus were chosen to help students learn why the service they are providing is so valuable. For example, as students pick up trash at the beach, Blue Ocean Society, a New Hampshire-based non-profit organization that promotes awareness and conservation of the marine environment through education and research, will be there to talk with students about ocean health and the affects that garbage have on ocean ecosystems.

Wilhelm is pleased with the new look of this year’s Community Action Day. “I believe that the way we’ve changed this day will provide a greater purpose for both the organizations and businesses that we serve, as well as the students.”

Students, she says, have the opportunity to choose a project that suits their interest. It’s also a great opportunity to expose them to the Academy’s sustainability efforts, such as the lending library, the school garden and The Exchange (an on-campus resource to recycle and reuse goods, she says.

For further information, call PEA Sustainability Coordinator Jennifer Wilhelm at (603) 777-3765 and the Academy’s community Service Coordinator Laurie Loosigian at (603) 777-3584. You may also visit their website pages at http://www.exeter.edu/comm/866.aspx and http://www.exeter.edu/student_life/85_527.aspx. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, a Phillips Exeter Academy education will now be free to any admitted student whose family income is $75,000 or less. Committed to educational excellence, the school meets all demonstrated financial aid needs of its admitted students, making the Academy effectively “need blind.” The diverse student body comes from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds approximately from 45 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and 23 foreign countries.    

Participating Organizations in Community Action Day, April 9, 2008

American Independence Museum 
Apple Annie
 
Barker Farm
Berry Hill Farm
Blue Ocean Society Beach Clean Ups
Blueberry Bay Farm
 
Camp Lincoln, YMCA camp
Camp Tricklin Falls, YMCA camp in East Kingston.
Carriage Barn Therapeutic Riding Stable
Chamber Orchestra
Children's Park on Front Street
Cooperative Middle School

Dining Services

EPONA
Epping Head Start
Epping Recreation Department
Exeter Day School 
Exeter Housing Authority
Exeter Police and Fire Department
Exeter Water Works

First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter
Fort Rock Farm

Great Bay Discovery Center
Great Bay Kids Company

Harris Family Children's Center

Inspiration Farm
Into the Woods with Mr. Matlack

Little League, Lincoln and Main
Live and Let Live Farm
 
Main Street School

New Generation 
New Hampshire Audubon Society
New Hampshire Food Bank 
New Outlook Teen Center
Newfields Elementary School
Newmarket Head Start

PEA Glee Club
PEA Job Shadow: Systems and Cables
PEA Lending Library
PEA Mail Room Shadow
Planet Playground & Exeter Rec. Tennis Courts
Powder House Clean Up

Raking on campus
Richie McFarland Children's Center
Robinson Family Farm

Saltbox Farm
School Garden Project
Seacoast Charter School
Seacoast Hospice
Seacoast Interfaith Hospitality Network
Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest Light Bulb Exchange
SPCA
Squamscott Community Commons
Stuart Park
Sunbridge Nursing Home  
Swasey Parkway   

Tents of Hope Project  
The Exeter Exchange
Town of Exeter Town Offices
Town Street Common

UNH Kingman Farm
Urban Forestry Center
 
WIC (Woman, Infant and Children)
WIC (Woman, Infant and Children) - Raking & Planting
Winter Street Cemetery