Wittenberg's 15th Annual Celebrate Service Event

2016 May 19

Wittenberg University students, faculty and staff members teamed up with Springfield community members for the 15th straight year for an innovative event called Celebrate Service. This year's event took place on Saturday, April 16, at sites throughout Springfield.

With support of staff members from the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement, Celebrate Service was organized by students Ben Brown, class of 2016 from Indianapolis, Ind., Lauren Instenes, class of 2017 from Racine, Wis., and Andre Lorenz, class of 2017 from Apple Creek, Ohio.

The theme of this year's event was "Champion City" as project coordinators "wanted to focus on how we can be champions of service by better understanding and learning more about the assets of this community," said Kristen Collier, director of community service and Wittenberg class of 1992.

"There are a lot of hidden treasures in downtown Springfield, and participants were exposed to those treasures, while doing a bit of service for our community partners," she added.

Throughout the day, students visited various locations around the Champion City including the Warder Literacy Center, the Heritage Center, the Juvenile Detention Center and Think Tank to learn about each site.