More than 600 GW students, faculty, alumni, community members and staff – including the PAFs—volunteered at 12 sites around D.C. as part of the university’s annual day of service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 16th. The Day of Service, organized by the GW Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, kicked off King Week: a week long itinerary of service events hosted in Dr. King’s honor, organized by the Multicultural Student Services Center.
Both GW offices host PAFs: second-year PAF, Zinhle Essamuah, at the MSSC, and first-year PAF, Marisa Cordon, at the Nashman Center, who coordinated our efforts as PAFs to serve during the afternoon at the West Education Campus. Marisa was joined by her entire first-year cohort – PAFs Dor Hirsh Bar Gai, Grace Mausser, Zunara Naeem, and Alex Wang, as well as second-year PAFs Marcus Andrews, Angela Sako, and Katie Wynne. Second-year PAF Zinhle Essamuah also participated in the day through her placement. Members of the PAF Advising Team, Robert Snyder, Toby Davidow and Peter Konwerski rounded out our group, who engaged in sorting books, cleaning classrooms, and drawing and decorating banners with copious amounts of glitter.
Educators at the campus emphasized the importance of the day’s service for them, as it allowed teachers there to focus on further developing curriculum and providing high-quality instruction to their students.
During reflection following the event, PAFs remarked on connecting to their service experiences by imagining students flipping through books they remembered reading in elementary school; engaging in meaningful conversations with teachers there about the state of education in D.C. and Baltimore; freeing up space for teachers to allow for more effective instruction; and beautifying the school so it may continue to feel like a welcome, safe space for children there.
The PAFs will return to West Education Campus on Saturday, March 25th for the annual PAF Alumni Day of Service. They, and PAF alumni and friends, will help paint sets at the school for their upcoming Wizard of Oz play.