On Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, Union University students and faculty participated in Campus and Community Day despite changes in project assignments.
The event started with an 8 a.m. rally at the tornado monument in the center of the quads and was led by student body vice president Haley Aldridge, a junior elementary education major, and Christopher Hail, a mathematics professor at Union. Hale gave a testimony to the importance of giving back to the Jackson community.
After the opening rally, students and faculty dispersed, completing acts of service both on and off campus.
Though this event looked similar to past years, Union decided to change how students were assigned to groups.
When explaining the reasons behind this change, Aldridge said, “We had a conversation back in August talking about how we wanted to do some changes. Last year we knew that there was a lot of difficulty with different organizations requesting projects and then some projects not getting their needs met because of it.”
Aldridge noted that roughly 900 people participated in Campus and Community Day last year, a similar number to this year.
“So, this year we changed it to where you don’t sign up with an organization,” Aldridge said. “Instead, we would have every individual sign up on their own, and then we would put them in a place that has a need.”
However, this change involved some pushback from the student body, so the Campus and Community Day team thought through the best options, and they developed a system where groups could submit project requests with the disclaimer that students may be split between various locations to prioritize meeting the needs of the Jackson community.
On Oct. 2, students received an email from the Campus and Community Day team explaining this new process. The email closed with the following sentiment, “We believe this updated process gives us a better way to accomplish both goals: serving our Jackson community well and giving our Union community opportunities to serve together. “
Marie Tankersley, senior Christian ministry and missions major, explained her experience with the new change:
“It was funny because the only group I really fit in was Honors, even though I wouldn’t say they’re the group I’m most tied to on campus,” Tankersley said. “But I didn’t know that there was an option not to pick a group, so I just picked them; otherwise I would have just gone random.”
Previously, she had served with the School of Theology and Missions department, but this year, that was not an option. Tankersley was still committed to serving her community, but did ensure that she would have a friend serving with her.
“This is not how it’s been in previous years, but it ended up being really fun,” Tankersley said.
Other projects included serving at Birth Choice, painting a mural on the Penick Academic Complex, and sorting clothes for foster families.
Campus and Community Day is an annual event where the Union body steps away from classes to serve the Jackson community at large, remembering how they aided Union students in the aftermath of the EF4 tornado that damaged Union in 2008.
Be the first to comment