When students hear “Campus and Community Day,” most have a certain picture in their mind. There are no classes, no hustling and bustling: a pause in the busy week that feels like a small break. Some students see it as optional. Some see it as extra credit. Some simply see it as just “work.”
You are given gloves, maybe some trash bags or a paintbrush. You meet up with your organization, friends or people you do not know. You stay on campus or head to a part of Jackson you may have never been to before. All together, you work on a project that matters to someone else.
At first, it might not feel like rest. But somewhere in the middle of it all, it starts to feel like something more.
“For me, it’s almost as restful … because it takes your mind off of yourself and puts it on other people and other things,” junior social work major Kathryn Gilliam said.
Campus and Community Day is not just about having a day where you don’t do anything. It is about shifting your focus from your own schedule to someone else’s. It is a day to simply show up, give back, find the true purpose and value and remember why we are here.
Campus and Community Day began in 2002 as a way for Union University to show gratitude for both God’s protection and the community’s support during the 2003 and 2008 tornadoes, both helping shape Union’s recovery. 23 years later, it has become a day of remembrance and an honor to serve the city that houses Union.
For Lili Pettigrew, a senior creative writing major and Student Government Association (SGA) president, Campus and Community Day is more than a day of service.
“This year, SGA has been the student side of Campus and Community Day planning,” Pettigrew said. “My role has been mainly to communicate between SGA and the Vocatio Center and make sure everyone has what they need for their projects.”
Lili said the process has been new for SGA but is a valuable learning experience.
“We have been communicating with people and trying to hype it up and have as many people as possible sign up,” Pettigrew said. “As we have been promoting it this year, we have seen greater interest in people who didn’t realize the impact of it before or who haven’t participated before.”
What motivates her most, though, is what the day has to offer to students.
“It is such a great opportunity to serve, especially for students who don’t know the Jackson community yet,” Pettigrew said. “It’s nice to get a break in the busy schedule to focus on something as great as doing service.”
She said that students coming together to finish a job that might have taken days alone is the essence of the day: doing something small that makes a big impact on the community.
For students such as Kathryn Gilliam, this day takes on a more personal shape.
We met under the shade of trees on a breezy afternoon, the kind of day that hints at fall but with some warmth. At one point, Gilliam gently scooped a small bug from her chair and carried it to a nearby tree before returning to sit down, smiling like nothing had happened.
That small moment speaks volumes about her approach to life — careful, intentional and full of purpose.
Gilliam is no stranger to Campus and Community Day. In fact, she first experienced it while taking dual enrollment classes in high school through Union.
“I didn’t know a lot of people at the time,” Gilliam said, laughing. “I just heard whispers of this thing called Campus and Community Day and thought, okay, this is what it is. I thought it was so cool that there are no classes.”
Her first project was at a preschool, somewhere she had never heard of before.
“We split into groups and cleaned closets,” Gilliam said. “Some people knew each other, some didn’t, but everyone was happy to be there. One guy pointed out something they worked on the past year, and seeing their impact was the coolest thing ever.”
One year, she served at Cypress Grove picking up trash with students.
“I wanted to serve outside, so I chose something totally different,” Gilliam said. “I was paired with people of different majors. I got to know people who were happy to be there and willing to serve.”
That is what she loves the most about Campus and Community Day: seeing Union’s community come alive outside the classroom.
“I love that the heart of Union always is focused around people,” Gilliam said. “When I think of Union, I think of community. I love that we have a day where we honor the people who brought us here, even if we don’t know all they did.”
Now, Gilliam looks forward to the day as a break that is meaningful and more than a rest.
“It is motivating to look back and see all of the things you’ve done each year,” she said. “You might feel really passionate about Jackson now or something in the community you did not know about before.”
Every year since my freshman year, I have served with the Student Activities Council at the Boys and Girls Club in Humboldt. What we do changes every year. Sometimes it’s painting, organizing supplies or even prepping fun treats for the kids. Knowing that we go there every year, I always look forward to discovering what more we can do to serve.
Although I’ve lived in Jackson my whole life, I was too young to remember the 2008 tornado, but I have heard the stories. Strangers showed up to help, bringing whatever they could. They were faint memories, but it wasn’t until I personally started participating in Campus and Community Day that I began to really understand what it meant to, not only Union, but Jackson as a whole.
Serving alongside others helped me see the heart of a city I have grown up in my entire life — the kindness in its people and the gratitude that lingers from years ago. It’s not about doing everything perfectly or seeing big results. It’s about showing up, giving your time and finding joy in the small things. That is why I look forward to it every year.
Pettigrew shared that same energy of encouragement.
“Why wouldn’t you want to do this?” Pettigrew said. “You get a whole day off to serve, hang out with friends and do something meaningful. Something so simple makes such a big impact.”
For both Pettigrew and Gilliam, Campus and Community Day is more than a project — it is a glimpse of what makes Union different.
“I don’t know another college that does something like this,” Gilliam said. “It sets us apart in such a humble, people-focused way.”
Campus and Community Day isn’t a break from real life; it’s a glimpse into what real life — the good, grounded, Christ-centered kind — might actually look like.
