Southington Native Honored For Her Volunteerism By Eastern Connecticut State University

By Brian M. Johnson, The Bristol Press

April 28, 2022

Southington native Kathryn Kubisek has been honored for her volunteerism by Eastern Connecticut State University during their annual Service Expo and Awards.

The Service Expo and Awards was held April 18. It highlighted partnerships between the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) on campus and 15 community service organizations in the area.

Kubisek is a junior majoring in Spanish and a Center for Community Engagement (CCE) Student Leader at the University. In this role, she said that she coordinates several volunteer efforts. These include one-time events like clean-ups at the Railroad Museum in Willimantic and ongoing partnerships with seniors and elementary school students.

Kubisek said that she uses the FaceTime app to video chat with senior residents of St. Joseph Living Center in Windham.

“Nurses bring an iPad to the bedrooms and the seniors tell me stories about their families and the jobs they used to work at,” she said. “It offers them a good social opportunity.”

Kubisek also volunteers her time to work with students at North Windham Elementary School.

“It’s a mix of academics and social emotional activities,” said Kubisek. “It starts with 15 minutes of reading and math and then we do arts and crafts, board games and other things that the kids will like.”

Kubisek also helps to recruit volunteers for area covid clinics and assists at the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic.

“It feels good to give back and to do something that is worth doing,” she said. “It was nice to be recognized by Eastern Connecticut State University for a year of hard work. I’m definitely happy to have done it.”

Retiring CCE Director Kim Silcox said at the Service Expo and Awards that since CCE was founded in 2009, 10,000 students have participated in weekly and one-time volunteer events.

The program began to help students meet the four hour per semester community service requirement and has since grown to assist many local organizations.

Students have given a total of 190,000 hours of service to the community since CCE’s inception.

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.