Someone once told me that there is no more beautiful blue than during the month of June as the summer sky canopies Farmville and the surrounding countryside.
That phenomenal blue enveloped the Longwood University Cormier Honors students as they travelled to their Fall Semester 2013 Retreat at Hull Springs Farm the weekend of Sept. 13-15.
Freshmen experienced their first weekend at the lovely 662- acre farm with support and encouragement, a wonderful welcome from their fellow upperclassmen. Community engagement in the surrounding neighborhood led two groups to opposite sides of the nearby town of Warsaw, Va.
One group spent early Saturday morning straightening and arranging items for sale at the Shoppe for Haven’s Sake Thrift Shop, a non-profit enterprise affiliated with The Haven, an organization that provides shelter for victims of physical and sexual abuse.
As some students cleaned the grounds outside of the building, others dusted and re-sorted items for daily living so that concerned neighbors are encouraged to purchase merchandise allowing for 100 percent of the income received by the Thrift Shop to be donated for the welfare of the mothers and children housed in the community safe from their perpetrators and provided with the guidance necessary to re-establish themselves in occupations and living safety.
While some students spent the morning working at The Haven Thrift Shoppe, others traveled to a nearby parish to assist in preparing the parsonage for the newly appointed rector. Lots of windows to be washed inside and out did not deter our students from their dedication to community service.
Under the safe and serene cover of awesome blue skies, laughter and the sharing of stories accompanied the gentle breezes and the quiet lapping of creek water along the nearby shoreline.
Students were eager to offer their energy, camaraderie and good will to the lush grounds that are in fact the lab for which myriad interdisciplinary studies avail at Hull Spring Farms.
They were guided and directed by an ever-enthusiastic and knowledgeable Brian Barbre, education, programming and facilities coordinator, for the Longwood-owned farm.
Students divided into groups to clear overgrown gardens, prune shrubs away from the Grand House, paint window frames and clean out years of accumulation in sheds dotting the property. As the afternoon progressed, upperclassmen shared the fun adventure of canoeing and kayaking with freshmen and sophomores. As they practiced their paddling skills, students kept a watchful eye on each other as well as the shoreline for which they were determined to retrieve each and every speck of trash that might litter the waters surrounding Hull Springs Farm.
The day grew to a close with students grilling hot dogs and eating together once again outdoors amid a natural landscape beyond anyone’s imagination and protected by enormous trees.
Amid exhausted muscles and ever-enthusiastic storytelling, the day drew to a close as weary college-aged kids headed toward their respective rest soothed by the cool river breezes and country air. Only the light of dawn awakened the rested crew ushering in their last, but oh so productive, day of the Cormier Honors College Fall 2013 Retreat.
Students dispatched once more the next morning to remaining areas of yard to unleash their ever-engaging personalities and gardening skills upon the few remaining areas assigned to be tended. Weeds flew from the earth, straggly branches found themselves clipped to their respective re-growth potential and borders flourished once more in a curvilinear path that embodies the lovely and bountiful grounds.
“I love this place ... how awesome ... I feel better than ever... when can we return?” were among some of the applauding and appreciative exclamations that peeled through the clear, crisp air as students boarded the Longwood bus for the ride back to Farmville.
A successful experience of community engagement, interdisciplinary education and civic-minded responsibility transfused the sensibility to lifelong learning that is fostered in our natural environment to be re-examined in the classroom as our students matriculate their college years underneath the singularly beautiful blue skies that surround our university and the countryside nearby.
