After a blizzard resulting in a couple of feet of snow, what do most college students think of? A snow day and a reprieve from classes? Sledding down the President's hill on Dewick trays? Or just getting a couple extra hours of sleep? Well, one innovative thinker came up with something else - shoveling snow for his block. The following is the story of how one student capitalized on the blizzard conditions to do some good for himself and the community.
What may be the blizzard of the century came and went, yet dozens of inches of snow remained on the sidewalks, streets, and driveways of Medford and Somerville. On-campus students have nothing to worry about except making sure they don't take a clumsy step and fall on the Hill going up to Dewick, thus embarrassing themselves in front of the packs of Tilton freshmen they're trying to impress. However, off-campus residents have to cope without the luxury of having Tufts Facilities freshly shovel and salt their entrances and sidewalks upon the appearance of the first snowflake.
The snowfall brought the permanent residents of Medford and Somerville together with Tufts' off-campus students through the common bond of having to shovel out of more than three feet of snow. With shovels in hand, residents and Tufts students alike braved the elements and started clearing their properties out of the white abyss. Conversations were had not between a member of TUPD or Medford and Somerville's finest, but between a bag of salt and a couple of shovels. Cursory glances were replaced with "oohs and ahhs" about the magnitude of the meteorological phenomenon that had just befallen us.
When I woke up that day, ready to brave the elements and check Tuftslife.com to see if the gym and library were open, I discovered that something noble had happened. I surveyed my house on Bromfield Road looking for my housemates and noticed that one of them was missing. The usual guitar playing, with blues and rock tunes ringing throughout the house, was absent. The part-time second semester senior was nowhere in our house. Instead, I would come to learn, he was "working out". It seemed odd to me at the time that he was exercising when the gym was closed. As an avid distance runner, I've trained in my fair share of snow and rain, however, never in a blizzard of such tremendous proportions. At the time I thought to myself, "Man, Jesse is freakin' crazy". I later discovered that Jesse was up early shoveling not only our house out of the blizzard, but several neighbors' homes as well.
This ultimate act of neighborly altruism is one of the most innovative acts of kindness I've ever witnessed. When I asked Jesse why he had voluntarily shoveled more than 50 feet of snow over three feet deep, he said, "I wanted to help the neighbors and I wanted a workout." Such simple yet lofty words make this statement and what he did great evidence of social entrepreneurship. Social benefit and entrepreneurial thinking can co-exist. My housemate just simply took something he wanted to do and melded that with an opportunity brought about by the blizzard.
One of Tuft's selling points to prospective freshmen is this ivory tower ideal of the prevalence of "active citizenship" in the Tufts Community. Being an active citizen means many things to many people. I say, as Tufts students, we should practice active citizenship through social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship can take such simple forms as shoveling snow for your neighbors during a blizzard. As Tufts students, we should look for opportunities to bring together our individual interests with those of the communities of Medford, Somerville, Chinatown and Grafton - gracious hosts and incubators to some of the most crucial years of our development not only as graduates of a world class university, but as active citizens.
Loi To is a junior majoring in political science.
