On Saturday, May 2, the Physics and Astronomy Club hosted a cemetery clean-up at Fairview Cemetery in Middletown with a goal of beautifying, restoring and preserving the final resting place of local veterans and their families.
Although spearheaded by the Physics and Astronomy club, the event was a collaboration with nine other campus clubs and drew 35 students
Represented were the Student Veteran Association, Chemistry Society, Asia Society, Engineering Student Association, Art Society, Nectar Club, History/Political Science Club, Biology Club and the Car Club.
As a collective Brookdale community, all parties worked together to achieve a common goal. Together we tended to over 200 graves while learning about the history of our community and making new friends.
Due to the diversity of club participation, students were able to make connections with people they might have never met through class or just going about their daily routine.
We got to work around 10, and the veterans were leading by example. By the end of the day, the veteran students and other officers, and general members were showing exceptional leadership and communication skills, all while having a good time.
Oliver Boje and Jennifer Liu almost missed lunch as they were so dedicated to the mission. Ailton Alanya stayed behind after the event to tend to a few more. Adam Deinhardt went above and beyond with what was expected, and cleaned multiple sites thoroughly.
We also had support from local businesses. Taliercios, a family owned deli in Middletown generously catered lunch for our volunteers. They wouldn’t take a dime and gave us more than we requested.
When we met at Brookdale, members were sticking to their respective groups. By lunch everyone was enjoying the amazing food provided by Taliercios together. Having support from the local community motivated the students to put their best foot forward and reassured us that we were doing a great thing.
We also had support from the Middletown DAR chapter, who provided flags, guidance and were readily available when members had questions about some of the plots they were cleaning.
