<ough numbers of ACT are impressive: 35 ongoing programs, close to 75 volunteer program directors, 12 student coordinators, and close to 500 volunteers every year. ACT undoubtedly impacts the community, but looking past the numbers is when this impact becomes even more apparent. ACT’s birthday party this past Wednesday displayed some of these sentiments with a video commemorating the past 25 years, October’s 25 ACTs for 25 Years event, and the future of the ACT Center. Looking at clips of some of the interviewed students it becomes clear that ACT’s impacts are widespread.
Alsa Bruno, taking a break from raking for one of the 25 service projects, praise ACT in that it “makes the students have another level, another layer to their education.” Lizbee Collins-Wildman, the Program Director for Alternatives to Violence, an ACT program, describe working with ACT as a “genuine experience” and emphasize the significant amount she learns from working with the inmates during the AVP sessions. Sophie Daudon, an ACT volunteer, stresse the importance of being able to get “involved in things beyond Carleton,” something Ali Ehlen agrees with, mentioning that at Carleton “we can be really isolated sometimes.”
ACT, more than specific programs and tasks, is about the feeling and the mood. It inspires students to do more and to expand their ideas, it connects students to each other and to the community, it builds a sense of commitment, involvement, and action. Involvement is incredibly important, because more than the numbers, what you’ll notice when you get involved is the feeling it gives you and the difference you make, and that is something that is nearly irreplaceable.
– Hannah Comstock-Gay, on behalf of the ACT Center