CANTON, Mo. 鈥� This year鈥檚 Everyone Doing More event had a different look but still had the same message.

乱伦社区 annually begins the first week of school with its EDM event, which is in its 11^th聽year. In years past, it gave students the opportunity to go into the Canton community to perform service projects. This year鈥檚 activities, held Saturday, Aug. 22, were limited to the C-SC campus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers designed each activity for students to help other groups and organizations.

Among the activities were:

• Painting rocks for The Child Center, Inc., in Hannibal, Mo.
• Painting rocks and writing letters to kindergarten students in the Canton R-V School District.
• Labeling and packaging masks for the Canton R-V School District.
• Filling snack baskets and writing thank-you letters for first responders in Canton and on campus.
• Creating face masks out of fabric for a C-SC alum who has been donating face masks since the start of the pandemic.
• Recording videos of reading children鈥檚 books for the Canton Public Library.
• Making dog toys out of T-shirts for the Northeast Missouri Humane Society in Hannibal, Mo.
• Painting guard rails on campus.
• Making tie blankets for the North Central Missouri chapter of Project Linus, a non-profit organization that provides homemade blankets to children in need.
• Creating education videos on mental health, responsible drinking and social responsibility.

First-year students, transfer students and Wildcat Welcome leaders participated in the EDM event and were supervised by C-SC faculty and staff. About 330 students took part.

鈥淥verall, I really do think it went pretty well,鈥� said Amanda Sorenson, chaplain at Culver-Stockton and coordinator of the event. 鈥淭his was our first year doing it this way, and most of the groups had a good energy and got a lot done. A lot of the projects allowed for creativity and for them to have fun with it.

鈥淪ome projects will benefit the broader community, and we may continue to do some of them in future years. They were fun, they were engaging, and every student was busy.鈥�

Sorenson also gave credit to Katie Conaway, a senior English education and theatre major from Steelville, Mo., who was taking an honors service learning course.

鈥淪he was my right hand during this process,鈥� Sorenson said. 鈥淪he did as much as I did.鈥�

An album of photos from Saturday鈥檚 activities is on聽

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Freshmen students will check in at the Mabee Center at聽9 a.m.聽and move into campus residences on聽Friday, Aug. 23.

The kickoff to orientation begins at the Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. Friday, and matriculation begins on the steps of Johnson Residence Hall at聽2:45 p.m.聽During that ceremony, bagpipers and a faculty procession lead the incoming freshman class across campus. The new students meet President Kelly M. Thompson at Johnson Hall and sign their names in the C-SC鈥檚 Matriculation Book. Ronald Leftwich 鈥�64, chairman of the Board of Trustees, will present each new student with a penny to cast into the fountain on the quad with their wish for their college careers.

Students will take part on聽Saturday, Aug. 24聽in the Everybody Doing More (formerly known as Extreme Dome Makeover) service project. The 10^th聽annual event starts at聽10 a.m.聽when students march down the hill into Canton. Groups of approximately 15-20 students will work at 10 locations around Canton, while nearly a third of the students will be working along the riverfront removing sandbags. The project will end with lunch for the students at various locations.

Other EDM sites are:

Lewis Street Playhouse, 405 Lewis. Project leader is Dell Ann Janney.

Community Garden, 6^th聽and Clark. Project leader is Sharon Upchurch.

Happy Time Preschool, 300 S. Fourth. Project leader is Brenna Phillips.

Canton Christian Church, 512 College.

Work will be done at four private homes as well.

Returning students will move in聽Sunday, Aug. 25.聽A 鈥淲elcome Back鈥� barbecue and concert will be at 5 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gladys Crown Student Center. Classes will begin聽Monday, Aug. 26.

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