Throughout the year we sponsor many activities, both for our group and for the whole campus. These include community service projects, study breaks, interfaith discussions, and presentations by faculty members and other guests.
All-Campus Sing-Along in the Friends Meetinghouse
- At the end of each school year, SPC sponsors a highly popular and widely publicized all-campus sing-along. It is led by Annie and Peter Blood-Patterson, authors of the songbook Rise Up Singing.
Once or twice a month, we visit worship services at local churches. We usually meet behind Sharples or at the Bond parking lot and then walk to the church as a group.
Often, in conjunction with a church visit, the stewards invite members of the congregation to bring a potluck dinner to Bond so that we can talk with them over dinner. Not only is this a good way to escape Sharples, it's a wonderful way to meet families from local churches who we might not otherwise run into.
This is an opportunity for us to discuss a parable in detail while eating pizza in Pauline's office. We compare various translations and everyone has the chance to share how the words and the story speak to them. This fall, we meet each Tuesday night at 6:00 to eat and talk.
Credo means "I believe." Once or twice a semester, we invite a faculty member to give a talk in Sharples during dinner about his or her own spiritual journey. In the past, we have heard from professors from several different departments and religions. Last spring, we had chemistry professor Michael Wedlock as our speaker. This fall, we will have Tim Sams, the director of the Black Cultural Center.
Traditionally, SPC has dinner on Easter Sunday in the Friends Meetinghouse. The food is cooked by students, and tends to be amazing. For example, in the spring of 1999, we had Thai Peas, Ham, vegetables, rice, and pumpkin seed bread. For dessert, we had four pies baked and decorated via the collaborative efforts of Marc and Ellen.
Each semester, SPC sponsors an all-campus study break carnival in Parrish Parlors. Beforehand, the stewards go to Toys R Us and buy dozens of prizes, and to Genuardi's to buy ice cream and cookies. Pauline instructs participants in the fine art of velcro darts, and there are other games to win as well. Great fun is had by all.
On the third Saturday of each month, from 9 am until noon, the Swarthmore Friends' Meeting cooks food for a homeless shelter. We often help them out in the kitchen, chopping vegetables or making peanut butter sandwiches. They take the food downtown later in the day, and students are always welcome to go with them.
- Also, each year at Christmastime SPC adopts one of the Giving Trees on campus. We take all of the tags from it and go as a group to buy presents for the children. Afterwards, we wrap them and drop them off at the bookstore.
- Another service opportunity we participate in is Habitat for Humanity. SPC was one of the organizations which initiated this activity on campus.