“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead was acutely aware of the pivotal role committed citizens play in making the world a better place. And you could say the same goes for the students of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

Take Batten Builds, which took place on August 27th, kicking off the fall semester for Batten students—just a day shy of class. Celebrating its ninth year, Batten Builds is a community service initiative hosted by organizations across Charlottesville and provides the Batten School with an opportunity to give back to the Charlottesville community.

Speaking with Emily Drake, a Batten student and one of the primary organizers of Batten Builds, she said, “The purpose of Batten Builds is to create cohesion among our incoming students and current students, but also to connect with the Charlottesville community and create an impact in the best way possible. Batten is a group of individuals who want to create positive change.”

This year, 18 local organizations hosted a total of 212 students for Batten Builds service projects. Whether it’s cooking up a storm at the Ronald McDonald House’s kitchen to mulching a playground in the blistering 90-degree heat at Westminster Child Care Center to lending an extra hand at the Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Virginia —all with big smiles mind you—Batten Builds is a good indicator of the level of commitment and thought that comprises its student body. A fairly small student body, but one that dedicated more than 1000 hours of service to Batten Builds alone.

For Senior Dean Assistant for Student and Career Services, Jill Rockwell, Batten Builds is twofold: a tribute to [Batten’s] legacy; and a reminder before studying policies that students are going to be affecting ‘real people’ not just people captured in statistics.

“Real people” being paramount in any aspect of policy making – something founder Frank Batten understood well. Batten Builds demonstrates the school’s ability to combine its academic rigor with civic engagement—giving its students the tools and mindset they will need in the future as policymakers and leaders, or as the day’s thematic shirts advertised “Whatever we build…ends up building us.”