The Sesquicentennial Day of Service
This year Dillard turns 150. That’s a sesquicentennial. All throughout the year we will remind this city and the nation of the role Dillard University has played. A very resilient institution, we survived arguably the worst natural disaster in our nation’s history, so we have much to be thankful. And one way we show thanks is by engaging in service.
Nick Harris, our director of community engagement, helped coordinate the events for the day (we went on Friday, January 11th). From churches to community centers, we were 700 strong all over New Orleans, a morning shift and an afternoon shift.
Our mayor sent a proclamation
as well as our city councilman, Jared Brossett.
We also had greetings from Dr. Cynthia Bond Hopson from the United Methodist Church. She was in town for our board retreat. Dillard is one of 11 United Methodist HBCUs, as one of our founding schools, New Orleans University, was started by the Methodists.
We also had greetings on behalf of the board by trustee Rock Anderson, a Dillard alumnus.
After the preliminaries, the groups boarded buses to get out in the city.
Like many institutions, we have a service requirement. But so many high schools do as well so this is part of what students expect to do.
But this was great because we had faculty and staff there too (even our volleyball coach!)
So this was a wonderful way to celebrate 150 years. Looking forward to a great year.
The Prez
