Rockford University students give back on ‘Jane Addams Day of Service’

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Students and staff at Rockford University honored its famous alumni, Jane Addams, with a “Day of Service” on Wednesday, which found them doing helpful projects around the area.

Addams was the founder of the social worker profession and co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

The university provided help to the Discovery Center, Burpee Museum, and the Rockford Rescue Mission. Students and staff in the English department went to Tinker Swiss Cottage to help with gardening and transcribing letters from Rockford’s past.

Professor Bill Gahan said, “Tinker Swiss Cottage has a lot of history. And there a lot of letters, and lots of things that haven’t really been poured over entirely. So, it seemed right to have English professors and students of English to come out and get some of the letters, help out, transcribe them, and make some sense of what it was like to live back then.”

Rockford University was first founded as the Rockford Female Seminary in 1847 before becoming Rockford College in 1892.

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