BY LANCE GAITHER

lance.gaither@bluegrassnewsmedia.com

Centre College’s 372 first year students were sent out to explore Danville for Centre College’s annual Delve Into Danville on Saturday August 26. The orientation program for Centre is a partnership with the Danville-Boyle Chamber of Commerce and aims to encourage freshman to visit and engage with Danville’s community. Delve Into Danville is organized with the assistance of 5 of Centre’s Bonner students. The exploration of Danville is student guided by First Year Mentors.

“We had about 50 first year mentors leading them through downtown to all these businesses and non-profits,” said Nathan Whitlock, assistant director of Centre College Civic & Community Engagement. “ We had 24 participating. It was the most that we had in the 3 years that this has been running. That is not including all the small vendors at the farmer’s market. It was a really great year.”

Student feedback has been extremely positive to this year’s Delve Into Danville.

“This year we had a good grip on things and the weather cooperated,” Whitlock said. “Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, especially for businesses that had free samples. The community really showed out for the first years which is really special to see.”

Delve Into Danville is a nudge to get students into the community.

“We have students coming from all over the world,” Whitlock said. “It is really nice to get them acquainted with the people and laces downtown that really makes Danville shine as a community.”

This year’s students are excited to continue supporting Danville’s small businesses.

“We have loads of students purchasing things from the farmer’s market and taking them back to their dorms,” said Caitlyn Barnes, coordinator of Civic & Community Engagement. “They were already investing themselves into the local economy which is really cool to see. Everybody is excited for the outdoor seating.”

Whitlock and Barnes hope that next year’s event will have even more participation.

“It all relies on the partnerships that we hope we can continue to form. At Centre we are looking to build the strongest relationships we can with the community,” Whitlock said. “As we continue to nurture those relationships whether with non-profits or businesses, I see us expanding and those partnerships as well. The Chamber of Commerce has been a huge partner with this. They are our connection with a lot of the downtown spaces. As long as they are excited about this relationship as we are I see this continuing to grow.”