Day One Leadership Community, a program for freshmen at Mississippi State, has experienced a significant increase in its number of students this school year.
Day One director Allison Pearson said the number of freshmen participating in the program has grown from 216 last year to 285 this year.
The purpose of Day One is to connect freshmen to leadership and service opportunities at the very beginning of their time at MSU, Pearson said.
“It’s a leadership program that is based on community service,” she said.
Each year freshmen are accepted into the one-semester program soon after their acceptance into the university. The increase in students this year is partially due to MSU initiative in publicizing the program, she said.
“We send letters of invitation to MSU applicants,” Pearson said.
Day One promotes itself during prospective student preview days, setting up booths with information on the program, and also advertises at freshman orientation, Pearson said, adding many students learn about the program by word of mouth.
The 285 students are divided into 47 project groups of about six people each. Each group is assigned to an agency in the Golden Triangle area, and each team completes a minimum of 20 hours of community service and one major project for its agency during the semester. Partnered agencies include the Sally Kate Winters Home in West Point, Project Brickfire, Habitat for Humanity and the Baptist Memorial Hospital cancer unit of Columbus.
Housing and residence life director Ann Bailey said all Day One students are housed in Cresswell Hall. Cresswell houses 310 students, 285 of whom are in the Day One program.
“The vast majority [of Cresswell residents] are Day One,” Bailey said.
Day One student Zachary Schmidt said he heard about the program from a flyer in the mail and applied online. Schmidt’s team is partnered with local Boy Scout campsite Camp Seminole.
Schmidt’s Day One team will be teaching and encouraging recycling methods to the Boy Scouts as well as helping out around the camp in ways such as cooking meals, cutting grass and picking up trash, Schmidt said. Though Schmidt said his team is required to complete 20 hours of community service this semester, he said his team plans to put in more time. Schmidt said he applied for Day One as a way to get involved in leadership and service in college.
“I was in Boy Scouts before,” Schmidt said. “I thought this extension of leadership would be good for me.”
Program manager of the Appalachian Leadership Honors Program Stephen Williams said, “[Day One is] part of a continuum of leadership programs on campus.”
The succession of leadership programs continues with the ALHP, a three-semester leadership-training program for students who have completed at least one semester at MSU. The 26 current ALHP student members are enrolled in a leadership class and attend lectures from ALHP-provided speakers, Williams said. Each student must complete one major community service project before they graduate.
“[ALHP] takes students and teaches them different components of being a leader,” Williams said.
Pearson said student interest in these leadership programs stems from students’ desires to something significant with their time.
“Many students want to serve and give back,” Pearson said. “They see a need to make a difference in society.”