More than 50 MIT undergraduates braved a downpour last week to do community service and get to know one another better during SCORE (Service in the Community Oriented toward Relations Enhancement), a reprise of last year's "Give Racism the Boot" event.
The event, which was co-sponsored by Sigma Chi and the Public Service Center, brought together students from 12 groups that included several sororities and fraternities, McCormick Hall, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Black Students' Union (BSU). They broke into small teams (each with no more than two members from a given group) and did some cleaning, painting and other work at the Cambridge Community Center, Shelter, Inc., the Salvation Army, CASPAR, Just-A-Start and the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House.
In addition to accomplishing useful volunteer work, SCORE "makes you meet people you never would've met before, and you come back to MIT at the end of the day with new friends," said Paul Shay, treasurer and community service chair of Sigma Chi. "People at MIT are close to others in their living group, but they don't meet people in other groups as often as they might."
"I enjoyed working with a diverse group of students, each bringing a new perspective to the experience," said Cori Peele, a junior in mathematics and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, NSBE and BSU.
SCORE was first held last year with sponsorship help from Timberland as part of the company's "Give Racism the Boot" initiative. This year's event was again aided by funds and T-shirts from the firm, as well as a grant from the MIT Race Relations Committee; Aramark donated food.
