<p>My daughter, along with 80 other Smith students, is in New Orleans helping to rebuild homes this week. She has served on several church rebuilding projects when she was a h.s. student. I am most impressed by the number of students who have volunteered to help out. Smith has led the way with the majority of volunteers from the 5 College area. </p>
<p>One of the very positive aspects of her Smith education has been the vast amount of opportunities and support for students to volunteer in the Pioneer Valley area. She has worked as a teaching assistant in an elementary school composed mostly of economically-disadvantaged minority students, counseled prisoners at the Northampton Jail about basic life skills, and worked with a non-profit foundation that aims to protect children from abuse and aid single parents. I appreciate her education outside of the classroom almost as much as inside it</p>