Simpson College has many unique features, but its most notable feature is its location in the middle of Indianola. When students plan for the weekend, they often think of going to Des Moines, even though Indianola has some pretty amazing places close to campus.
The Square, or downtown Indianola, is a short walk from Kent Campus Center and holds a variety of stores and places to explore.
The Student Government Association (SGA) works closely with the city of Indianola on a couple of projects, including preparing for Campus Day on April and meeting with the Indianola Main Street Board.
Campus Day preparations have been underway for a while now, including selecting food trucks, contacting organizations or homes that need volunteers on campus day, approving t-shirt designs for the Campus Day shirts from the t-shirt contest, promoting the event and gathering volunteers for Campus Day.
The Campus Day Committee is led by First-Year Class President Edward Kent, Sophomore Class President Tristan Blair, Director of New Student Programs and Community Engagement Tayler Keitzer and AmeriCorps Service & Community Engagement Coordinator Ellie Blosser.
Kent and Blair are tasked with preparing for campus day on the SGA side. They said it has been hard because Blair has experienced campus day once and it is Kent’s first.
“Preparing for campus day has been quite a learning curve for me, as I was moved up to class president at the start of this semester,” Blair said. “However, what has made this shift easier is the people in SGA and here at Simpson who are helping us ensure we have an organized and good campus day. People like Tayler Keitzer have been a massive help in setting up and getting everyone on the same page, and without her, we would not be where we are right now.”
Kent said he has also tried his best to understand what goes into Campus Day by reviewing notes from previous years and feels confident with where they are at now.
Keitzer and Blosser are helping with campus day preparations by reaching out to the Indianola community to see who would like assistance from students.
Blosser is interested in approaching schools and organizations in Indianola that can benefit students and work well with students’ fields of interest.
“I think it’s really cool to see students connect their passions to their hopeful future career path,” Blosser said.
Blosser is also open to communicating with professors who would like to collaborate with her on getting their students out into the community and finding places where students can see themselves in the future through volunteering under class exploration.
Keitzer helps students in the Wesley Service Scholars program find volunteer opportunities with outside communities to complete their grant requirements. At the end of the year, students under the program present their most notable volunteer opportunity at the Research & Creativity Symposium.
“My favorite day is the poster session at the symposium because I get to see 60 people talking about how they were impacted by their engagement in the community,” Keitzer said.
Keitzer said that last year’s campus day numbers were significantly different from previous years. In the past, campus day didn’t have much involvement in Indianola. Last year, there were over 700 volunteers across 42 teams working on 41 community projects and five on-campus projects. It has been Keitzer’s goal to see Simpson get more involved in the community that Simpson is proud to be in.
“When the current director of facilities stepped into his current role, he said, ‘Let’s not only mulch on campus, let’s do community work,’ I was like, I’ve been saying this for years,” Keitzer said. “I really like the partnership that we have. Yes, there are some things that the campus can benefit from, but let’s send everybody into the community because that’s why we’re here.”
Indianola has been part of the Main Street Iowa program since 2024 to improve the downtown community. The Main Street Iowa program is focused on revitalizing historic downtowns and commercial districts.
Assistant to the President and Director of Community Relations Chelsea Grenier attends the Indianola Main Street board meeting at least once a month with Junior Class President Ava Carnes, who has served as a student representative since fall 2026.
Carnes said that at these meetings they share what is happening on campus, and the board suggests events that Simpson can participate in.
Grenier said that these efforts to have a student representative at these meetings can create a pathway for students to visit the square more often.
“When we’re talking about some of these bigger events, and they’re [the board] like, ‘Oh yeah, all the students would come to this,’ and then it’s nice to have her [Carnes] voice, be like, ‘Well, actually this maybe won’t be as exciting for the students,’” Greneir said.
Carnes is also from Indianola, and she wants students to explore the square and find places of common interest.
“I think that so often we get caught up here, and it can just feel so small and sometimes isolating if you’re not willing to open up and see what else is out there,” Carnes said.
Carnes’ favorite places to go in town are the Corner Sundry for a sweet treat, Pete’s Pizza for dinner and adorn for gift-giving items.
“We are not afraid to drive 40 minutes to West Des Moines, we should not be afraid to walk and just check things out,” Carnes said.
As a student, Carnes believes it is part of our civic duty to uphold the community.
“We highlight a lot of civic engagement and leadership within our curriculum,” Carnes said. “Everybody’s taken foundations, everybody understands social infrastructure. It’s important that we support that with what is in our community right now.”
