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Community Action, Outdoor Action trips shortened by one day

Both Community Action and Outdoor Action trips were shortened by a day this year, running from Saturday, Sept. 5 to Thursday, Sept. 10.

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Participants only had three-and-a-half days of activity on each trip, with students returning to campus Thursday evening.

According to Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, the schedule changes were mostly made to accommodate students who celebrate Rosh Hashanah, which took place last Sunday. As a result, this year’s freshman orientation program was one day longer than last year's, returning pre-orientation to the same length as in fall 2012.

Dunne said the budgets for the pre-orientation programs were not reduced.

Pace Center Assistant Director Dave Brown, who coordinates CA programs, and Director of the Outdoor Action Program Rick Curtis ’79 did not respond to requests for comment.

CA leader Kelly McCabe ’18 said she believes having one night of rest before returning to campus is helpful for freshmen. Doing service and moving back in one day created a hassle, she added.

In addition, the number of upperclassmen trip leaders per group also decreased to about three leaders per trip. Nonetheless, there were more CA and OA leaders in total, according to Dunne.

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The reduction in the number of leaders per CA group was "part of a well thought-out process based on past experience and the need to build a CA that is scalable as interest in the program continues to grow,” Brown wrote in an email to CA leaders on Sept. 5.

Ruting Li ’19, a participant in the OA sustainable farming trip, said that the three leaders on her team were sufficient in order to facilitate an effective trip.

Li added that the upperclassmen leaders were well-prepared, though the trip did not seem to require substantial training.

Kitty Moraes ’19, a participant in the CA Arts in Trenton trip, also expressed that her team leaders provided abundant mentorship.

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“I’m not really an artist, but it was still really rewarding for me to be able to paint and see a mural come together in the food bank,” Moraes said. “The leaders were really helpful in talking about what it’s like at Princeton, answering our questions and reflecting on what happened each day.”

According to Dunne, trip leaders held discussions about a variety of matters pertinent to the University, including sexual harassment, as part of the ongoing campus conversation about such issues.

To centralize CA protocols, Pace Center established a CA support center modeled after the long-standing OA command center, McCabe said. The center ran everyday from 7:30 a.m. to midnight, according to McCabe. CA deployed “regional leaders” to the center to have them provide immediate support and mentorship to multiple CA groups, according to Brown's email.

McCabe said that she found the center crucial in providing hour-to-hour support for health- and activities-related support.

“It was beneficial to have a central unit,” McCabe said. “We had issues with power [at our residence] one night, and they were very helpful.” McCabe, who co-led her service trip to help with maintenance for Grounds for Sculpture and create artworks for Friends of Mercer Street Food Bank and Homefront, said she encountered a last-minute change on the last day. The CA support center then directed the group to the Crisis Ministry of Princeton.

The OA and CA dance, a tradition that took place in past years on the night of the program’s conclusion, was also omitted this year, as students were still moving back to campus on Thursday evening. The dance has received mixed opinions from students in past years.

“I was at first a little disappointed to hear that the dance was canceled,” said Chi-Chi Azoba ’18, a CA leader for Princeton Project, a program aimed to cultivate civic engagement beyond the Orange Bubble. “But it worked out in the end — everyone was pretty tired when we came back.”

As the OA and CA dance was canceled, Li explained that her group convened for an informal dinner after the trip. Li said “hanging out informally was a good closing” for a rather exhausting trip.