Did you know that members of the MATC family are out helping the Milwaukee community as we speak? On Sept. 14, the MATC Day of Service was held at the Hillside Terrace Family Resource Center where students, faculty and staff of MATC got together to lend a helping hand.
MATC instructors, Suzanne Goodrich, Cody Hunnicutt and Yvette Ardis of The Center of Engaged and Service Learning, got together with the people of the Hillside Terrace Family Resource Center to organize this event. “This was our first collective day of service with faculty, staff and students. We were thrilled with our turnout,” said Hunnicutt, a sociology instructor. Over 60 volunteers came to the center on a nice and sunny Saturday to help out. They were split into two groups and began to clean up the Hillside Terrace community. The groups went around the neighborhood to pick up garbage.
While cleaning up the garbage, a lot of interesting things were found throughout the day. One item in particular that was found was a person’s driver’s license that was turned in to the Resource Center. All the students that participated in the Day of Service had smiles on their faces and had a good time. “It’s not like it was actual work, it was enjoyable…to look at the end product, the whole community is cleaner and it’s good for the ecosystem,” said Stephanie Wickert, nursing program student.
The students also got to work with students, faculty and staff from other campuses. “It was my first time coming to the MATC Day of Service. I got to meet some people I probably wouldn’t have met and I met some faculty that will hopefully be my teachers one day,” said Dynah Davis, nursing program student.
The Day of Service was a very good way to get students, faculty and staff to come together as a group. Goodrich, co-chair of the psychology department and service learning coordinator, states that she was amazed at how MATC got into helping the community and enjoying the impact it can have.
“Education has more than just learning in the classroom, that it really is being an active citizen in the community and I hope that students take that away, and I think they did,” said Goodrich.
It’s little things like this event that show that the college doesn’t only care about the success of the education of their students, but their involvement with the community as well. “This just shows that students, faculty and staff all want to be a part of the community or are a part of a community and really put their work where it counts,” said Goodrich.
This event can be a big part of a student’s time. It continues to grow and can potentially get better as the years go by. “We’re hoping that all of the people who contributed to this will go out and say something to others… and that would spark an interest in others for the next year,” says Ardis, an early childhood instructor.
It will also help  students when they leave MATC to pursue four-year colleges, jobs and careers going forward.
“It will let people know that MATC students are community active and it will look good on a résumé for MATC students to show that they do community work,” says Davis.
The people who participated in this event all hope that it can continue in the future and that more and more people come to volunteer.