The morning of Sunday Oct. 19, the day after all the destruction and mayhem outside the Keene State College campus, athletes from the baseball team, softball team, swim team and volleyball team, along with coaches and other students, came out bright and early to clean up Keene.
“It was the right thing to do,” Head Baseball Coach Ken Howe said.
Coach Howe is a local and said he was very pleased with the turnout of athletes and non-athletes who showed up early Sunday morning to help pick up campus and surrounding areas.
Tanner Chase, captain for the baseball team said that in previous years the sports teams have helped with Pumpkin Fest cleanup but stated, “This year I think there was a better turnout because of the events that took place.”
Chase also stated that the team postponed their morning lifting work-out to go participate in the clean up.
However, for senior swimmer Randy Dunton, this was his first year cleaning up with the team.
Tim Smith / Equinox Staff
“I believe the community came together and the cleanup would have still happened, but it is good to show support and help get the community back to how it should be after the behavior of the student body,” Dunton stated.
As of now, four out of the eighty-four arrests made between Friday, Saturday and Sunday were Keene State College students, according to the Keene Police Department press log. Some arrests were unnamed.
“Everybody thinks it was just KSC kids and it’s not, it was college-aged students, but not all were from Keene State” Howe said.
“We [the team] felt bad and although this doesn’t make things better it helps to make things right with the community,” Howe continued..
Junior softball player Catherine Tewell stated that her team decided that they needed to be there to support the school and try to save the image the school had left.
“The people who vandalized our home don’t realize the consequences they have left for KSC students and faculty. We have to try our best to show our true colors of community, respect and pride to the world and show them what KSC is really about,” Tewell stated.
Dunton also agrees that community needs to see the real KSC.
“We should work on showing the community the good that can come from the KSC community,” Dunton stated.
Get involved, share pictures, or join in the discussion by using #KeeneStudentsCare.
Kendall Pope can be contacted at kpope@keene-equinox.com
