Praxis Raises Student Awareness

With community service opportunities popping up all over campus, there are now more chances than ever to get involved within and beyond the gates of Trinity. However, Praxis goes above the normal call of volunteering. Not only does this program recruit students to actively participate year-round in community service, but they have also created a theme house devoted to their causes. Praxis, unlike the other community service programs, resides in Doonesbury, creating a tight-knit, residence-based group, run by students, for students. "The fact that we are a residentially based dorm has a huge impact on what it is like to be a part of Praxis -- we have built a really close-knit bond amongst our group and even though we all come from different circles of friends and backgrounds and interests," Julia Martha '06 states, "we have this common thread that has brought us together since the beginning of the year, and that is a passion or a drive for involvement in our community. I just think it is awesome to have become close with this diverse group of people who, under other circumstances, I might not ever have had the chance to get to know."



community. "We do all kinds of individual community service projects, some that we had thought up on our own, and some that are already campus-wide projects. Together, we form a great bond of students from all grades, and we just have fun helping out," Emily Ciccolo '06 comments, "It is a group of a dozen warm-hearted students that care about putting just a few extra hours a week to help out wherever it may be needed. The great part is, it's so laid-back and there's no pressure. We run everything ourselves."

To be a part of Praxis, every member must volunteer regularly for a chosen project throughout the academic year, there is no minimum hour requirement. The group as a whole does about four or five projects a semester, ranging from in-campus activities to those including the Hartford community. Ciccolo continued, "[This year] we had a haunted house for Halloween for children from Hartford, we baked and donated hundreds of pies for Thanksgiving, and we did Snowman-o-grams for Christmas."

Recruitment for Praxis is key in the future plans for the program. "Right now we are really focusing on recruitment efforts -- just getting the word out there about Praxis," explained Martha, "letting people know what a great opportunity Praxis is -- and explaining that it is not just a small group of people who happen to do lots of community service -- we are involved in so many different things, ranging from off-campus service projects to the Lyons Club to the on-campus knitting group to volunteering at the hospital to organizing an on-campus bone marrow drive."

Besides focusing on getting new members, the program is also in the process of planning events for the rest of the year. These will not only help the community, but they will get the entire campus involved as well. Martha added, "We have some pretty exciting events coming up ... we have been participating in the campus-wide effort to raise tsunami relief funds, will be hosting our annual 'get naked with Praxis' clothing drive in the spring as people are getting rid clothes, we are planning on painting our common room, which will be a lot of fun!"