Tusculum College students to provide a day of service in the community as part of campus tradition

Tusculum College students dispersed throughout the community on Tuesday, Sept. 16, continuing one of the longest held traditions for the college.

Students took part in Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day, also known as “Nettie Day.”  Participation in “Nettie Day” is required for all new students as part of the Tusculum Experience course, and upperclassmen from various student organizations also take part. More than 300 students, faculty and staff participated.

Students provided service hours for community and regional agencies that included Doak Elementary School, Tusculum View Elementary, Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Habitat for Humanity, the United Way of Greene County, Davy Crockett State Park, the National Park Service, Rural Resources, Tabernacle Soup Kitchen and several others.

“Nettie Day,” which is conducted under the auspices of the Center for Civic Advancement, honors the memory and altruistic way of life of Nettie Fowler McCormick, widow of reaper inventor Cyrus McCormick, who was a 19th century supporter and advocate of Tusculum College. The McCormicks, staunch Presbyterians from Chicago, learned of Tusculum College through Tusculum graduates who attended their McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and became significant benefactors to the college.

Nettie McCormick is recognized as the college’s first benefactor, a term that denotes a donor whose cumulative gifts total at least $1 million to the college. Nettie McCormick funded the construction of several of Tusculum’s historic structures, including Haynes Hall, Rankin Hall, Welty-Craig Hall, Virginia Hall and McCormick Hall, which is named after the McCormick family.

McCormick Day began as a day of cleaning the campus in reflection of Nettie McCormick’s insistence on clean living environments. The day has evolved to take on a more generalized community service emphasis.

This year, Nettie Day is also part of “Orange Rush” week on campus. Activities planned ranged from career preparation sessions to intrumaral/hall war competitions to an academic fair to live entertainment.

Tusculum College, the oldest college in Tennessee and the 28th oldest in the nation, is a liberal arts institution committed to utilizing the civic arts in developing educated citizens distinguished by academic excellence, public service and qualities of Judeo-Christian character. Approximately twenty-one hundred students are enrolled on the main campus in Greeneville and three off-site locations in East Tennessee. The academic programs for both traditional-aged students and working adults served through the Graduate and Professional Studies program are delivered using focused calendars.

Tusculum students clean out the herb beds at Rural Resources as part of Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day.

Students worked with Habitat for Humanity on a home construction project that included a handicap ramp.

Several groups of students worked for Keep Greene Beautiful cleaning and clearing roadside trash and debris.

At Tabernacle Soup Kitchen, students organized pantries, as well as did minor repairs and outdoor landscaping work.