May ’23 Week 1: Hood College Volunteers

My oh my, the time has come when all nine of our Hood College volunteers have completed their 27 hours of volunteering at ThorpeWood! That’s a total of 243 hours! We feel grateful and humbled by their generous service. Thank you to Molly, Casey, Riana, Alba, Kaelyn, Jordan, Phebe, Olivia, and Rebecca. Each of these ladies have helped us with so so many tasks and projects, including: animal care (grooming, socializing, providing enrichment, exercising, trimming hooves, cleaning feathers, etc), gardening, cleaning and organizing, program support, lesson plans, paperwork, litter pick up, and much more! They lit up the farm with their enthusiasm and kindness. We are going to miss them!

And now, a word from one of our volunteers, Kaelyn:

Hi all! My name is Kaelyn and I am a sophomore at Hood College in the Honors Program. Each year, the program admits a limited number of outstanding students who are united in their passion for global education and who wish to enrich their academic journey through seminar-style classes, co-curricular activities, and social events. In the spring of their sophomore year, each student is tasked with identifying and securing a volunteer position with an organization that seeks to improve a social or humanitarian issue. Once secured, students are responsible for completing 27 volunteer hours with that organization throughout the semester and completing reflection-type assignments based on their experiences.

This year, ThorpeWood has welcomed Hood students with open arms. I chose to complete my hours at ThorpeWood because I wanted to challenge myself by being in a new environment. I also deeply value their mission to bring nature and the outdoors to others. Some of the tasks that I helped complete during my time on the farm this year have included morning chores, grooming horses, cleaning stalls, spring clean-up and organization, helping with “hay day,” and a variety of other miscellaneous tasks like scanning waivers, sorting through archives, and a few virtual projects. My favorite experience on the farm was by far socializing the baby chicks that arrived in late spring! My time at the farm has not only allowed me to meet new people, form new connections, and develop new passions, but most importantly, allowed me to give back to the Frederick County community.

Volunteering at ThorpeWood has truly been a one-of-a-kind experience! Each member of the staff has been tremendous and worked to accommodate the needs and interests of each Hood student. You truly will not meet more friendly or hardworking people than those at ThorpeWood!