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

Tusculum College students will demonstrate the college’s commitment to both learning and serving on Thursday, September 13, as they spend a day helping others.

Freshmen and transfer students will participate in Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day as part of the Tusculum Experience course. Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day is one of the longest-held traditions on the Tusculum campus and involves students spending time in service to others. Some of the projects that the students will undertake include working with local non-profit organizations and schools.

This year, Nettie Day will be the cumulative event of Nettie Week. Nettie Week will include the promotion of opportunities to provide service in the community and a special 9/11 movie showing of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” at 7 p.m. in Chalmers Conference Center. The film will be preceded by a discussion of the events of 9/11.

In addition to service to others, activities will also have a focus on the U.S. Constitution in celebration of Constitution Day, which is Monday, Sept. 17.

Nettie Fowler McCormick Service 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 donors to the Northeast Tennessee school.

Nettie McCormick is recognized as the college’s first Benefactor, a term that in Tusculum usage denotes a donor whose cumulative gifts total at least $1 million. Nettie McCormick funded 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, now often informally called Nettie Day at the college, 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.