All first-year and transfer students spent the morning of Sept. 25 volunteering around Spokane for Community Building Day, which has been a Whitworth tradition for 117 years. 

Organized by Whitworth’s Dornsife Center for Community Engagement, the event aims to give back to the Spokane community. It is a part of Whitworth’s mission to “honor God, follow Christ and serve Humanity,” according to the center’s website.  

Students worked all over the Spokane area, from churches and organizations off-campus to projects at Whitworth. “I was building trails that were going to be accessible to the public and Whitworth students,” said Mia Reyes, a freshman psychology student. “I want everyone to be able to experience the beauty of the nature we have back there.”  

Reyes’ class worked in the Back 40, the 40 acres of land behind campus, where people can access trails and walking paths. They built more trails and cleaned out the plants on existing trails. “People say the trail building is the worst one to get because you’re in the beaming sun and you get really dirty, but it’s actually really fun. I’d say it’s one of the best ones,” said Reyes.  

One class of Honors students worked in the Hixon Union Building, encouraging people to register to vote. It may seem like a simple task, but students learned valuable lessons in working as a community. “It showed working with a group can really get you out into the world and show you how to communicate with other people and help others in a way that you don’t usually do on your own,” said Morgan Perron, a first-year English major.  

Some students got to work off campus to do their volunteer work. Students had a lot of favorite moments during this event, especially when it came to building connections within their classes. “[My favorite part was] having the time to work beside professors and students and just weed and talk,” said Brian Duarte, a freshman computer science student. 

Duarte’s class volunteered at a local Presbyterian church, where they gardened and painted signs. “To me, it was a fantastic opportunity to reach out to the local community,” said Duarte. 

Reyes, Perron, and Duarte all agreed that they would do something like this again if they were given the opportunity because they were able to give back to the local community in a meaningful way.