SHAWNEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROVIDES FOOD, REST FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS DOING GOOD DEEDS

3/17/09

North Dakota State University students gathered below the sign welcoming them to Shawnee Community College Monday.

Ullin IL- Shawnee Community College opened its doors to a busload of university students Monday who were traveling throughout the Midwest doing good deeds.

The students bypassed the traditional spring break activities of most their age. They had just finished picking up debris left over by the January ice storm in Vienna when they arrived at the college hungry. "A lot of my friends are in Mexico right now celebrating spring break," said Connor Johnson, a sophomore at North Dakota State University. "But I felt like I had better things to do with my time this year." Connor was one of 45 students from the university who joined the "Pay It Forward Tour" sponsored by Students Today Leaders Forever, a national service organization. The students from North Dakota will eventually meet up with a large number of other university students at a rally in Memphis, Tennessee.

But along the way, the students scheduled opportunities to help others. The tour began March 13th and will end March 22nd. The university's Pay It Forward coordinator Winga Chow, a senior at the university and native of Hong Kong, China, contacted Donna Raynolds of the Southernmost Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone to ask how they could help others as they passed through the region. Raynolds explained the devastation left behind by the ice storm and the students were more than willing to lend a hand. Courtney Topp was one of the university students who liked what she experienced in Southern Illinois. "What a nice thing for the college to do for us," Topp said. "Everyone in Southern Illinois has been so kind to us." Topp and others enjoyed freshly baked lasagna prepared in the college cafeteria. The night before they had slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Vienna. After cleaning up storm debris for several hours and making the bus trip from Vienna to Ullin, they might have reason to complain. But none of them were.

In fact, each student paid $425 to be a part of the service project. The meal offered by the college was for free. "There is no way we are going to turn down a group of hungry students like these who were not only willing to give up their spring break to help others, but paid money to do so," said Larry Peterson, president of Shawnee Community College. "I am proud of all of these students and proud that our college could help in a small way."

Aaron Skjerseth of Fargo, North Dakota, said he expects to return to Southern Illinois. "It's beautiful here," said Skjerseth, journalism major at the university. "We've had a very good experience in Southern Illinois." With students representing countries from all around the world, Candy Eastwood, coordinator, Center for Community and Economic Development at Shawnee Community College, said you never know what an experience like this could bring about.

"Someday if one of them is looking for a place to locate a factory, maybe they will remember Southern Illinois and see fit to locate it here. You never know," Eastwood said.

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