Moravian hosted its ninth annual Heritage Day on Sept. 19, 2024. Planning and restructuring of the event began back in February. It was spearheaded by Kristina Scesa, director for civic engagement, and Madison Van Duzer, assistant director of civic engagement.
The most significant changes included preregistration, check-in, the morning program being shortened and moved to John Makuvek Field, longer service time, and the addition of a block party celebration.
Last year, QR codes were located on every table inside Johnston Hall asking for feedback from participants. An overall consensus was that the morning program ran too long and post-service programs took away from the quality and length of service. Scesa emphasized the importance of understanding and implementing this feedback.
One of the largest concerns came from the community partners, who said that they did not know how many participants would come to their site until roughly an hour before students arrived.
So, Scesa shortened the morning program and speeches, which allowed for an additional hour of service.
When students arrived at Mak Field in the morning, they checked in with their site captains and received their shirts.
Before students departed to their service sites, a large group photo was taken. In previous years, this photo was taken after service, and students were lined up in the shape of the year the event took place. Because it took so long to organize students into these shapes, this year, a drone took a photo of everyone standing with their groups on Mak Field.
Students were required to preregister for the event, which streamlined the morning program and kept groups organized. Students who were registered received an email from Van Duzer with a map of Mak Field attached, showing where each volunteer group would be located.
“We were scared people wouldn’t get the email or know where they were going,” Scesa said “We left extra time so people didn’t feel rushed this year.”
Preregistration also benefited community partners. By preregistering, community partners knew in advance how many students would be volunteering, allowing them to better prepare.
Groups could also register together. “One of the things I noticed [from prior years] is that students wanted to serve together and felt most comfortable serving together,” Scesa said.
Most services took place off-campus this year because it was easier for community partners to have students travel to them, rather than hosting service on-campus. This created a need for increased transportation since the on-campus service opportunities were heavily downsized.
To keep dismissal to volunteer sites short, Scesa worked with Campus Police to establish two bussing routes from Mak Field.
As it happened, The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley were planning to run their annual Day of Caring around the same time as Moravian’s Heritage Day.
So, Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby suggested partnering with the two groups and creating one giant day of service. Both organizations agreed, making this year’s event the largest day of service ever in the Lehigh Valley.
After service projects were completed, students returned to campus for lunch. Because the group photo and t-shirt distribution had been moved to the morning, USG and MAC could host a Block Party at the Academic Quad.
“We want [Heritage Day] to be a celebration of Moravian’s beginnings, the founding of the university, and who is here today,” Scesa said. “The block party capped off the day to celebrate that community connection.”
