| Casey Barwell honored at Centre College
DANVILLE, KY -- Casey Barwell, a Centre College senior from Taylor Mill, has been named the college’s October Volunteer of the Month. Barwell was chosen on the basis of his leadership role in organizing a massive student work project that involved more than 250 Centre students earlier this fall. Each year Centre includes a service project as part of freshman orientation, and one upperclassmen is designated as the project leader. Barwell played that role for this year's service day, which was held in early September and focused on the historic town of Perryville a few miles west of the college. The students cleaned up an illegal dump in the Chaplin River, took down a shed that had become an eyesore near a historic mill, and helped sort tires for recycling. The project was a joint effort between the Perryville Enhancement Project, which recommended the three sites, and Centre, with help from Donna Fechter, the Boyle County solid waste coordinator. The Enhancement Project plans eventually to develop a walking trail from the town to the Perryville Battlefield. Barwell says his primary role was to be supportive of the other students. "My main job was to be enthusiastic," he says with a grin. "We had a great group of freshmen who worked hard. For some of them, who were still trying to adjust to being away from home, the work was a good way to meet people and begin to settle into the campus." A member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, Barwell says it was the fraternity that first got him involved in service work at Centre. As the group's philanthropy chair, he met Centre alumnus Stuart Sanders, director of the Perryville Enhancement Project. Sanders belonged to the Beta fraternity while at Centre, and now that he works near the campus, he frequently asks his old fraternity to do service projects in Perryville. Barwell says he worked at Perryville six or seven times last year, so a return visit for the freshman project seemed natural. Barwell is a 1997 graduate of Scott High School in Covington. He is majoring in mathematics and physics at Centre, with a minor in philosophy. He has been named a Faculty Scholar and received the Monnie McChord Scholarship Prize. Barwell is the son of John and Cathy Barwell. Centre sponsors a volunteer award program to show appreciation to the many students who provide service to the local community. Each year, around 60 percent of Centre students become community volunteers. The college encourages voluntary service by planning a community service day each year for all first-year students. Ann Young serves the campus as director of volunteer service. - end - Communications Office Public information coordinator: Patsi Barnes Trollinger |
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