Service with a Smile

I’m continually amazed by students’ commitment to service at the College. I’m particularly impressed that W&M has continued to amass the largest number of international service trips of any college in the country. Period. That means that college’s with 40,000 students don’t have the commitment to service that comes with a William and Mary education. These trips go all over the world for tons of different reasons. There’s a trip to Tanzania to fight the AIDS epidemic, one to the Dominican Republic for sustained medical relief, two that help orphans in Romania, and one that builds schools in Uganda. All in all, seventeen trips leave from Williamsburg every year with students eager to help in any way they can. What they return with is the satisfaction that they have made their College and the world a little better.

The seventeen international trips don’t even take into account the dozens of domestic opportunities for service. William and Mary students have been all over the country helping out those who are less fortunate. Whether it be cleaning up hurricane Katrina sites along the Mississippi Delta or building houses with Habitat for Humanity in rural Virginia, students at W&M know how to give back.

My time at the College has been spent standing in awe at the opportunities my classmates are taking advantage of. For every cool thing I’ve thought about taking part in, there are ten that I didn’t even know existed. William and Mary is full of opportunities, especially those that let you pay it forward. Whether you’re into building schools in Africa or houses in Louisiana, The College William and Mary is the jump off point for a lifetime of adventure.

Nick Metheny, Class of 2009
Senior Tour Guide