Story and Photos by University Communications.

For incoming Georgia College & State University freshmen, the Saturday before classes start is not the last opportunity to get some rest - it’s their first chance to give back.

GC Gives Day is an annual right-of-passage, in which new students team up with their hall mates and fan out across Baldwin County to engage in community service projects and learn more about the community that will host their college experience.

This year, roughly 1,360 first-year students participated in 35 different projects that introduce the many community organizations, local non-profits and volunteer opportunities students can partake in throughout their time at Georgia College.  

Residents on Foundation Hall’s third floor packed into Baldwin County school buses to travel to Walter B. Williams Park, where they helped clean up trash and debris, beautify flower beds and improve the area around playgrounds.

Baldwin County Recreation Department Director Traci Bowden said the work student volunteers contribute during GC Gives Day matters a lot more than they realize. Recreation department workers divide their time between three parks and multiple athletics facilities. After maintaining the grounds and playing fields, there’s a lot of important work that can fall through the cracks.

“We stay busy cutting the grass and weed eating,” she said. “Some of the little things that matter a lot don’t get done—so when organizations like Georgia College come out, it’s a huge help.”

Loading mulch onto the back of all-terrain vehicles headed to the playgrounds, first-year student Ty Watson recalled all the time he spent on playgrounds and ballfields growing up in Macon. Watson said he was happy to spend the first Saturday of his college experience helping the Milledgeville-Baldwin County community.

"It's nice to give back and make sure the kids have a good place to hang out and play, just like I did," he said.

Watson’s hall mate and fellow volunteer Georgia Barham-Taylor said the service project was a welcome break from meetings that familiarize incoming students to Georgia College and what they can expect during their first weeks on campus. They agreed that volunteering is a good way to introduce new students to the community. 

They didn’t have to wait long to see an impact.

Milledgeville native Bonnie Bell brought her grandsons Cullen Hamm and Kaleb Hughes to the Walter B. Williams playground. Before volunteers finished leveling out the new layers of mulch they’d applied, Cullen and Kaleb were flying high on the swing set.

“It’s always great seeing young people out cleaning up the community so it’s a safer place for kids,” she said. “It helps get them familiar with the area, and they get the opportunity to come back and enjoy what they have done.”

That kind of reciprocity was on Blakely Queen’s mind too. As a community advisor for Foundation Hall, Queen was excited to volunteer at a park because it brought back memories of her family.

“My grandparents used to take us to parks all the time; and they would always help clean up when we were there, whether they were asked to or not,” Queen said. “So, it reminds me of them, and I feel like I'm also doing a service for them as well.”

Georgia College staff members Cassie and John Napier volunteered to help lead the GC Gives Day project at Walter B. Williams Park. For them, it was an opportunity to give back to a place that holds a lot of memories for their family. The Napier’s three children grew up on the playgrounds and ball fields at Walter B. Williams. 

After two years of restricted gatherings and fewer volunteer opportunities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cassie Napier said it is a relief to get back to activities that bind Georgia College students to their host community.

“It's great to build those ties again, and have that relationship building going on so that we don't lose that,” she said. “It's one of the most integral parts of what makes Georgia College unique and the GCSU experience special for our students.”

It’s that spirit of cooperation that helped freshman Jacob Hall understand GC Gives Day as the beginning of his college experience.

“We are all in this situation together,” he said. “We are here for each other, and we should all be willing to help whenever there is a need.”