DANVILLE, KY- After arriving on campus late last week, Centre College's newest freshmen found that they had a huge assignment even before classes began. Continuing a college tradition, Centre arranged for the entire class to participate in a massive community service project on Saturday, Sept. 11, before classes began on Sept. 13.

Saturday morning, more than 200 freshmen joined staff and community volunteers to work in and around the Perryville Battlefield Enhancement Project a few miles from the campus. One large group of the volunteers concentrated on cleaning up an illegal dump on the Chaplin River near the battlefield. The current drought made it possible to get dump trucks very close to the dump near Crawford Springs, and the students cleared out several tons of trash.

Another group of volunteers built a split-rail fence near a new rear entrance to the battlefield park, creating a replica of the fence which likely stood there at the time of the Civil War battle of Perryville in October 1862.

Ann Young, director of volunteer service at Centre, says the goal of the annual service day is to show freshmen how strongly the college feels about public service. She hopes these freshmen will become part of Centre's year-round volunteer program, which involves close to 70 percent of all Centre students in community service.

Coordinators for the event were Young and Donna Fechter, director of the Danville-Boyle County Clean Community Commission.

A number of local businesses and government agencies supported the clean-up by donating supplies and services.

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Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422