Dorothy Day Program

Since 2006, the Dorothy Day Program has been designed as a means for students to participate in community service projects affiliated with the Sisters of Saint Joseph.The program is named for Dorothy Day, a Catholic woman who served the poor by providing food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and hospitality to all. In keeping with the charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of “uniting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God,” the Dorothy Day Program provides service to the local community and promotes the mission of the college in educating creative, reflective, and principled learners who will carry on a legacy of service in the future.

Students arrive on campus a week before classes begin, live in the dorms, and work each weekday. At the completion of each day, the students reflect on their experience, both personally and collectively, formulating insight for themselves, and as a community.

Since its inception, the program has grown from five students to fifty-seven; from one site to five sites.Students have worked in cleaning and painting classrooms, weeding and landscaping property, readying a site for a new academic school year, assembling bookcases, desks, and tables, setting up a new playground, as well as performing a variety of other tasks.