When I first heard the words “street art”, immediately my head was filled with many negative connotations, of the vandalism and irresponsibility of rebellious artists. Bear in mind that this was not my personal stance, as I personally viewed some of the murals that I had seen in urban cities as pieces of art. Nevertheless, some graffiti did remind the public about violence and gangs.

Upon arriving to the parking lot in Collegetown, and seeing the murals on the parking lot walls, I was amazed by how beautiful and meaningful the paintings were. The guide told us about the backstory for each mural, and it was so interesting hearing the significance of each painting. For example, there was a mural of a worried face with the question of, “do we still have time?”. This mural just transmitted so many emotions, emotions of despair and regret through the eyes of the person. It really strikes me as an image that makes people aware of the impact that each of them have on this Earth. The guide let us know that this mural was painted by fourth graders, with the help of adults. That to me was so impressive, how they could paint with such precision, and how deep it was.

We saw many other parts of the commons that had been painted, countless electrical boxes, and signs. They all made me think of one thing: how some touches of color here and there can really add to the spirit and the livelihood of a city. As the guide was telling us, he works on a board to get artists to come and paint on walls around the city. To me, this fostering of street art really and truly allows for street art to take its best form, as something of which artists can feel proud, not like they have to do it at three in the morning against the law.  It is truly a window for self-expression, and tells a story that can be enjoyed by any passerby. 

I was not originally planning to participate in Into the Streets, but I stepped in for a friend who couldn’t go. I’m really glad I did. We volunteered for an organization called Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC). We did some yard work such as raking leaves and pulling weeds. It was a great experience for me because I grew up in Japan, and I never had a yard, so I’ve never raked leaves before. I also got to get to know some of my fellow rose scholars better. It was a lot more fun than I would have expected.

After we were done, we went inside and a staff member explained to us what GIAC does. They have many programs such as after school tutoring, a boxing program, a STEM program that is essentially run by the kids, gym facilities, senior citizen programs, among others. She also explained that GIAC is publicly funded and that the facilities staff is stretched a little thin, which is why volunteers to do yard work is so important.

Overall it was a great experience, and I was happy to be able to give back to the Ithaca community.

On Saturday I teamed up with some of my best friends from west campus to volunteer for Into the Streets. Our job was to help clean the cemetery and clear a path for the run that takes place there every year to raise awareness for the cemetery and its historical value, and to raise money for its upkeeping and restoration. While it was hard work, and my back and arms hurt for days, we definitely managed to have fun working together to better our community. And through the rain and the blisters it really put into perspective that things happen outside of the bubble we call Cornell University, and that our community could greatly benefit from our banding together more frequently to improve the community in which we live. Volunteering is always time well spent, even though it’s easy to say that we don’t volunteer because we’re too busy. I always feel really good after giving my time to a good cause. I hope more Cornell students, myself included, will be more involved in Ithaca in general–it’s so easy to forget that the outside world exists, and so easy to overlook the difference we could all make.

Last Saturday, I volunteered for Into the Streets with a group of other Rose House residents. We went to the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and did some yard work there because the facilities employees who can only work limited hours are unable to tend to the outdoor areas. We finished the job pretty quickly as there were a lot of volunteers from Rose House and the space was fairly small. I enjoyed the experience and it’s important that we find ways to give back to the Ithaca community. As I spend most of my time on campus, I often feel very isolated from the town and I can’t help but think how, despite our proximity, we are very distant fro the Ithaca community. We have over 14,000 undergraduate students yet we do so little for the community we live in.

The GIAC is an incredibly important resource for families and children in the area. It provides tutoring for students as well as STEM programs. The GIAC receives funding from the city of Ithaca because of the need there is for its services in the community. The GIAC is committed to helping its students succeed and collaborates with the neighborhood schools to address student needs. In the past, Cornell students have received university funding to set up programs at the GIAC, but these programs no longer exist because of a lack of students willing to sustain and continue them throughout the years. If you are interested in helping out and giving back to the community, the GIAC accepts volunteers all year round.

A day dedicated to community service by the community is a great idea. Because we’re all living in the same area, local townspeople and students alike, a large effort to help each other definitely bolsters community morale and strength. Last Saturday, as a group of about 10 people, we traveled to the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. Our goal was to rake, sweep, and discard fallen leaves as well as pull up masses of overgrown weeds from around the main building. Given that the rakes and brooms were in limited supply, these tasks had to be completed by hand (with garden gloves) by the majority. The more physical aspect of these tasks made the work itself more enjoyable as we were able to get up close and personal with the leaves and weeds. Being an Environmental and Sustainability Sciences major, I particularly enjoyed the fact that I was immersed in a more natural environment and able to spend a few hours helping a good cause simply by being outdoors. If we had had more time, I would have liked to stay longer and possibly help inside the building as well.

Knowing that the Greater Ithaca Activities Center is dedicated to providing a a large variety of fun and engaging activities to kids of all ages and backgrounds in the community made the service I did extremely worthwhile. Not only do they host children after school, but they also put together different sports teams, offer tutoring services, and organize unique events related to science or Halloween. After this experience last Saturday, as soon as I can figure out reliable transportation, I would like to volunteer on a regular basis with them doing whatever I can to further their mission of improving the lives of the youth living in greater Ithaca.

This past Saturday I participated in Into the Streets. My group volunteered with the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, raking and weeding the garden. The day was a little rainy for it (luckily we narrowly missed showers before and after our time there) and we were a little short on rakes, but overall I really enjoyed the afternoon. After we finished working, a director at the center explained to us that the everyday maintenance tasks we’d been doing were sometimes neglected at the center because they have a limited staff and other duties, like keeping the inside of the center clean, take priority. I am glad that we were able to meet a need at the center and contribute, in that small way, to the operation they are running.

I also learned a little bit about the programming that the GIAC runs – they have tutoring and mentoring programs for local kids, and a longstanding boxing program that has produced noteworthy boxers in the past. It’s great to see the center providing these services to the Ithaca community. It’s one way that people can come together and get to know and support one another. That closeness and support ties communities together. I’m grateful for Into the Streets for providing us with a way to take part in the greater Ithaca community, even if this time it was just for the afternoon. I hope there are many more afternoons to come.

This weekend, I participated in Into the Streets for the first time.  The team from Flora Rose went down to GIAC to do some yard work for them.  I did some raking of leaves and some pulling of weeds.

GIAC is a great organization in downtown Ithaca that I didn’t know about before.  I think it’s great what they bring to the community, and I was happy to be able to do some volunteer work for them.  I think it’s great to be able to get down into downtown Ithaca and do a good deed, and I thought it was great that I was able to do that with Rose house.

It was dreary outside. The temperature dropped 10 degrees, it was half sprinkling with odd bursts of wind and the sky was a hazy gray. It didn’t seem like a good day to spend a few hours outside raking leaves.

But the thing is, you don’t do community service because it’s easy or convenient, you do it because it’s necessary. Granted, our job wasn’t backbreaking or particularly hard, just tedious- but tedious and important. Our job was to re-beautify a neglected GIAC area, something necessary for the community; we had to clean up a dirty area and weed the gardens, just so the outside can match the inside, and make kids feel a little bit better about going there after school.

I think the best part was the last 10 minutes- when the director of GIAC talked to us about why Into the Streets even exists and how important it was that we were there. She thanked us for spending our Sunday afternoon raking leaves and reminded us that the center overworks itself in a lot of ways- there are a lot of needs in the community that need to be met and a lot of the small things, like fall maintenance, get overlooked. And that’s where we come in. It’s our job to help in any way we can.