‘KT Global’ day of service to unite MC community worldwide April 17
March 15, 2021
On April 17, hundreds of Maryville College alumni and friends from across the globe will participate in volunteer projects during MC’s inaugural KT Global event.
The new initiative, launched by the Maryville College Alumni Association (MCAA) in October 2020, is aimed at uniting alumni worldwide to give their time and talent back to their own communities. Maryville College staff, faculty and students also will participate in the event.
More than 20 projects are currently on the list, and more are expected to be added. KT Global is chaired by MCAA board member Jennifer Phillips Triplett ’07, and alumni project leaders are overseeing each project. Alumni are encouraged to do projects on their own, volunteer with close friends and/or families, or form a group of MC alumni in their community to volunteer together. All participants are asked to observe COVID-19 safety precautions while volunteering.
Named for Kin Takahashi, a student from Maryville College’s past, KT Global celebrates the “can-do” spirit of a student who, during the 1890s, founded the College’s first football team and led a project to build Bartlett Hall on campus. KT Global is inspired by KT Week (later called KT Days), which was started 25 years ago by a group of alumni as an annual event on campus. Every year, about 100 MC alumni from across the country travel to Maryville to donate to the College something other than money – their time. They stay in the residence halls, eat in the dining hall and sign up for manual labor projects like pressure washing, painting, carpentry, masonry and landscaping.
The pandemic canceled the on-campus event for 2020 and 2021, but the Maryville College Alumni Office wanted to find a way to enhance and build upon the event – and provide opportunities for alumni engagement worldwide.
“Even during a non-pandemic year, it is not always easy or possible for alumni to participate in an on-campus event,” said Angie Harris, director of alumni affairs at Maryville College. “That is why the MCAA started KT Global – so alumni all over the world could participate by organizing and developing volunteer service projects in the communities where they live.”
Projects have been planned in communities all over the United States – in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Projects include volunteering with local food banks, landscaping and gardening, litter clean-up and recycling, and assisting non-profit agencies that help homeless families and foster children. Internationally, a project is planned in Kyrgyzstan, where an alumnus will lead a group to clean up destroyed sites from the Third Revolution in the capitol city of Bishkek. The full project list can be found at maryvillecollege.edu/ktglobal.
“KT Global provides a way to connect to each other and engage with the College,” Harris said. “We are proud Scots, and as alumni, we want to carry on the spirit of service and the mission of the College. Alumni represent the College in our own communities, so it’s a great opportunity for alumni to give back time and talent, which is worthwhile to your own community and to the College at the same time.”
KT Weekend planned for students
Maryville College students are participating in KT Global during KT Weekend 2021, also planned for April 17. Several projects aimed at making a positive environmental impact on the Maryville College campus – particularly the Maryville College Woods – are planned for the day. The 140-acre Maryville College Woods are a private, protected and managed multi-use forest, designated by the Tennessee Division of Forestry as a Stewardship Forest.
That morning, student groups will build benches for the area near Maryville College’s Crawford House, build trusses for a roof on the spring house in the College Woods, establish a pollination garden at Crawford House beside the fruit trees, pick up trash in the College Woods, and prune encroaching limbs on the College Woods trails.
In the afternoon, student participants will enjoy a picnic lunch from Metz Culinary Management, the College’s food service provider. The 55-foot Alpine Climbing Tower at Mountain Challenge (a fitness and outdoor company located on the MC campus since 1987) will be open all afternoon for students who are interested in climbing.
The event is sponsored by MC’s Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, the MC Physical Plant and the Maryville College Woods Group. Maryville College’s Nonprofit Leadership Alliance is part of a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations that prepares and certifies college students for professional careers in nonprofit management.
“The College Woods are a vital educational and recreational resource on our campus, and we need to always be working as stewards of this resource,” said Dr. Drew Crain, MC professor of biology and chair of the Maryville College Woods Group. “KT Weekend provides a great opportunity for students to safely gather, enjoy the outdoors, and roll their sleeves up to make a positive impact on the Maryville College campus.”