Williston Serves offers students unique opportunities to make a meaningful impact on the local community by fostering pride and building connections through hands-on service.

From cooking meals at the Ronald McDonald House in Springfield, to assisting with projects at the Easthampton Library, the club provides a wide range of activities that allow students to contribute to the community in helpful and impactful ways.

Williston Serves, also known as the Community Service Club, is a club dedicated to helping the local community. Led by faculty advisor Dr. Pamela Maddock and co-presidents Esther Glazer and Olin Rose-Bardawil, the club is supported by six student ambassadors and approximately 135 members.

Dr. Pamela Maddock, who has been guiding the club for over a year, emphasized the energy and dedication that students bring to community service.

“I enjoy the energy and positive attitude and good cheer from students,” she said. “I like the enthusiasm – whether the students are showing up at 7 AM to help at the road race that benefits Treehouse Foundation, the local group that is revolutionizing foster care, or returning cans and bottles collected from different dorms or putting together office furniture for the library, students have loads of fun with the community service work they do!

The Treehouse Road Race, held at the Northampton Airport, was an event designed to support foster children in a new version of foster care within elderly communities.

Other past events have included volunteering at Winterfest at Nashawannuk Pond in Easthampton and painting rocks for the healing garden path at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Northampton.

Dr. Maddock also has a positive perspective on the students’ community service efforts.

“It’s fun that no student has to do it,” she said. “Nobody gets graded on it. Nobody has to do it to graduate. The students find it fun and interesting–and that’s refreshing!”

Dr. Maddock believes that these service activities allow students to build meaningful connections with the local community.

“The Easthampton Public Library, for example, gets to see that this school is not just a bunch of lawns and old buildings that take up a lot of space (and tax base) in the city, but that it is collection of people who want to learn and want to be helpful,” she said.

Emily Prabhaker, a youth services librarian at Easthampton Public Library, appreciates the many ways Williston students contribute to the library through various events and projects.

“We’ve been so grateful to have Williston students help us with a number of events and projects at the library lately–from helping with an outdoor Taiko drumming show to assembling new chairs for the staff here to cutting hundreds (thousands?) of paper strips for a family garland making night,” she said.

Emily shared that these contributions have deepened her connection to Williston.

“While I already felt connected to Williston through the many library patrons we share from the community, I’ve been so impressed by the students who consistently show up to work on projects during their free time,” she said. “Coordinating with Dr. Pamela Maddock has been seamless, and Williston students always come ready to engage and get things done.”

Community service also offers students an opportunity to “step outside of their routines” and engage with individuals and families facing various challenges.

“It helps those families and it helps our students learn more about the real-life struggles people face,” Maddock said.

Community service can significantly benefit students on their academic paths as well. According to a Forbes survey of 264 college admission leaders in the U.S., 58% agreed that a student’s community service experience positively impacts their acceptance to college. Furthermore, 53% stated that community service can serve as a crucial “tiebreaker” when evaluating equally qualified candidates.

Club co-president Esther Glazer enjoys community service, as it offers her connection with the communities and new perspectives.

“I love participating in community service because I can see the impact that it has on communities,” she said.

“It also helps me put whatever problems that I am dealing with into perspective.”

Esther’s favorite community service project so far has been volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.

“I found it very gratifying to interact with the families staying at the house and be able to provide them with a home-cooked meal,” she said.

Her passion for service started long before Williston. Back home, in Newton, Mass., Esther regularly volunteered with her family.

“I always engaged in community service growing up at home,” she said.  “Usually that meant volunteering with my family to serve meals to families in need over thanksgiving, sorting clothing at donation centers, and during COVID sewing masks for hospital workers.”

Her passion for service started long before Williston. Back home, Esther regularly volunteered at a local food pantry, where she helped organize donations and distribute meals to families in need.

“Seeing the gratitude of the people we served reminded me of the importance of giving back,” she reflected.

Williston Serves now has a website, which students can visit at https://willistonserves.my.canva.site/. The site outlines the various ways students can get involved. The site includes a schedule, sign-up forms, and descriptions of some of the places where students can volunteer.

“We decided to make a website for Williston Serves because we found it difficult to keep track of sign ups and our calendar,” Esther said. “We wanted a space that could feature all of our important information and link to an ongoing sign-up survey.”

Addie Eakin, a sophomore, started a tutoring program where Williston students tutor kids in need of extra help within the community for reading.

“I really liked what the Arete tutoring does and I wanted to help kids in need of extra help within the community,” Addie said. “I thought that was important and I was thinking of ways to tie in and strengthen our relationship with the community and Williston, and trying to make us close together.”

Addie has been reaching out to private and public elementary schools in Easthampton and Northampton as well as to students at Williston who want to volunteer.

“My goal is to get more people interested, both schools and students and kids from all over,” she said.

Addie enjoys seeing the progress of Emmett, a 3rd grader at Hilltown Charter School, who she tutors at his home near the town library.

“I really like watching them grow and learn as people,” she said. “His progress throughout the four months I have been tutoring him is insane. He has gone so much more confident in himself and better at reading. I just think it’s so powerful that I can help with his journey.”