UT SOUTHERN KICKS OFF 2021 SCHOOL YEAR WITH “INTO THE STREETS”

On August 24, 2021, The University of Tennessee Southern (UTS) held its fourth annual “Into the Streets” community service event.

A service-learning experience to introduce new UTS students to the community and encourage local engagement, 2021’s “Into the Streets” saw an orange wave of over 400 UTS students, faculty, and staff across Giles County. UTS members provided service to the Boys & Girls Club, Rural Food Delivery, the Rotary soccer park, Pleasant Run creek, the Pulaski town square, UTS’s main and east campuses, and more. 

“We want our students to feel like they are a vital part of the community from the very first day they step on campus,” said Chancellor Dr. Mark La Branche. “There is no better way to do this than engaging them in acts of service.”

A highlight of UTS’s 2021 Welcome Week festivities, “Into the Streets” has quickly become a staple event within the community and is spear-headed by UTS’s First Year Experience Coordinator, Mayor Pat Ford, Instructor and Program Coordinator of Business.

“‘Into the Streets’ is my favorite part of Welcome Week,” said Mayor Ford. “The students really like the hands-on experience, and we all enjoy the opportunity to give back to the community, especially with the outpouring of support we’ve received in the days leading up to and following the UT acquisition. ‘Into the Streets’ looked bright orange this year, and I have to say, it was the best one yet.”  

“What a difference a day makes,” added Dr. Judy Cheatham, Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. “A group of 400 worked for four hours – essentially a morning – to provide 1600 hours in total service to the community. It would take one person 200 days to provide that much work. Such is the power of working together!”

The University of Tennessee Southern is an institution of higher education, originally formed under the name Martin Methodist College and founded in 1870. Offering associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees, UTS is located on an historic campus in Pulaski, among the beautiful rolling hills of southern Middle Tennessee.  The University of Tennessee Southern is convenient to both Nashville (70 miles north) and Huntsville, Alabama (40 miles south).