The Campus Day tradition of service was continued by returners and newcomers to Simpson College last Wednesday.

Campus day was started in 1889 and is Simpson’s longest running tradition. This year, more than 600 people volunteered on Simpson’s campus and in the community. A few teams of volunteers were members of the football team.

The football team usually goes to Wesley Woods to help clean the area up before the camp opens for summer. This year was the first Campus Day for freshman tight-end Tanner Canova.

Canova said, “I didn’t really know exactly what to expect, but it was a good experience. To be able to help our campus and some of the surrounding community was great.”

This year, the team broke up into two groups. One removed brush and the other moved logs from the top of a hill to a trailer. Many players returned to campus with scratches on their arms and pink on their faces.

Canova said, “Though it wasn’t the easiest of work, it was very enjoyable. The work we did collectively as a team in a couple hours would have taken the small crew at Wesley Woods a day or two at least. It was rewarding to know that our small contribution was such a large help to them.”

The football team was not the only sports team participating in Campus Day. The volleyball team, women’s soccer team, women’s basketball team and men’s and women’s cross country are among some of the other teams.

This day is not specifically for athletes. Other groups included a Residence Life group, a group from the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, Pi Beta Phi sorority, Delta Delta Delta sorority, as well as the Lambda Chi Alpha, Kappa Theta Psi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Tau Omega fraternities. There was representation from many other campus groups, and groups of campus members getting together to better the community.