Providence, R.I.--Approximately 150 members of the Providence College Class of 2013 and 25 upperclassmen leaders will participate in the College's 19th annual Urban Action program from Sunday, August 30, to Wednesday, September 2.

Working with staff members from the City of Providence's Parks Department, the students will focus their efforts on historic Neutaconkanut Park, in the city's Silver Lake neighborhood.

The students will restore hiking and walking trails, clear brush, paint, repair small bridges, install water bars to protect against erosion, and clear out an overgrown cemetery in the 88-acre park, which was inhabited by Native American Indians in the early 1600s.

Urban Action coordinators for 2009 are Class of 2010 members Pete Carpentier '10 of Gardner, Mass., Mary Sarah Harper '10 of Kensington, Md., and Courtney Nelson '10 of Concord, Mass.

Urban Action was initiated by two Providence College first-year students in 1991, with 17 students volunteering the first year. Since then, more than 2,500 freshmen have participated, with many returning each year as leaders.

The goal of the program is to provide incoming students with an opportunity to make a positive difference in the community.

Participating students arrive on campus three days before their new classmates and settle into their regularly assigned residence hall rooms. The freshmen spend two days working on outdoor and/or indoor service projects important to the Providence community. In the evenings, students spend time reflecting on the meaning of their service and participating in activities and entertainment.

Impactful experience
The program is sponsored by the Office of Student Activities-Involvement-Leadership (S.A.I.L.)/Slavin Center. Sharon L. Hay, dean of student programming in the S.A.I.L. office, said other than refurbishing the park, Urban Action has personal benefits for the students.

"Students are able to get to know a smaller group of their peers along with upper-class student leaders prior to class beginning," she explained. "They also start to become familiar with the College and the City of Providence, which will be their home away from home for the next four years."

Hay noted that aside from the activities at the beginning of the academic year, the program continues throughout the year with students participating in community service one Saturday a month.

Past Urban Action projects have included collaborating with the Parks Department to improve the status of city-planted trees and to restore city parks; clearing brush and preparing fields for a new organic gardening project at the Urban Edge Farm; conducting a massive cleanup at the City Arts! Building; and clearing land to create a community farm for Providence families.

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