The freshman class of Tusculum College plus some volunteers — a total of about 300 people — got dirty and, in some cases, got wet on Thursday while performing service projects around Greene County.

Thursday was Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day, a Tusculum College tradition since 1913.

The day is named for one of the college’s greatest benefactors, the widow of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical reaper.

After her husband’s death, Mrs. McCormick became the head of the company that later became International Harvester.

Initially, “McCormick Day” or “Nettie Day” had an emphasis on sprucing up the campus, in honor of Mrs. McCormick’s love of cleanliness and good order. The day has since evolved to a time for providing service throughout the community, as well as on campus.

This year, a major portion of the service day focused on the creek that flows through and beside parts of the Tusculum College campus.

Teams of students, along with a faculty member and an advisor, trekked along the creek, and, in many cases, in it. They made direct observations and took photos that will be tagged with Global Positioning System (GPS) locators, said Greene County Soil Conservationist Paul Hayden.

The students’ work will be used to create a database that will support an application for a federal grant to improve the creek, Hayden said.

“The data collected today appeared to be accurate and valuable,” he stated.

‘Impaired’ Creeks

Greene County has more than 60 creeks that are considered “impaired” because they have pollutants that exceed federal limits, said Chris Cooper, a former fisheries biologist who is now a watershed specialist with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The vast majority of these creeks are listed as “impaired” because of sediment, also called siltation. It comes mostly from erosion and construction, or from bacterial contamination and excess nutrients, officials have said.

The impaired creeks are listed on the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation’s (TDEC) 303(d) list, and College Creek is one of them.

Hayden said state officials who have surveyed College Creek say siltation from pastural grazing and land development has caused the creek to lose some of its “biological integrity.”

Cooper said Thursday, while leading a team of students, that although the creek bank through the campus in general looks good, he saw relatively little aquatic life in the creek, and evidence of too many nutrients.

The combination, he said, generally tends to result from cows’ being allowed into the creek, or from failing septic systems, or both factors.

Wetlands Allowed To Flourish

Cooper was complimentary when his group encountered what he said looked like a fairly large, intentionally created “retention basin” near the creek, downhill from a cluster of new dormitory apartments built a few years ago.

He complimented the fact that the college is letting wetlands vegetation flourish there, and in general not mowing too close to the edge of the creek.

Hayden said he intentionally targeted College Creek for the study not only because it is on the list of impaired creeks, but because it runs near the campus.

“I hope to engage the educational community in understanding the creek’s problems,” Hayden said, because the problem with College Creek is typical.

Over the next four years, Hayden said, working with the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance, he plans to do similar work and seek grants for improvements to Holley Creek, Richland Creek and Pigeon Creek, as well.

Hayden said all four creeks drain water from the Greeneville area.

“The mission ultimately is to help the city solve its stormwater problems,” by raising the level of awareness, he said.

The creek is variously called College Creek and Frank Creek, depending on location. It flows southward along Rufe Taylor Road, under U.S. Highway 11E and passes between the Doak House and the main campus, and eventually makes its way to the Nolichucky River.

Goal: Delist College Creek

Earlier this year, the Greene County Soil Conservation District received a grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to support the generation of a U.S. EPA 319 Program watershed action plan for College Creek, and other creeks.

A watershed action plan describes the general condition of the stream and outlines a combination of methods proposed to be used to improve water quality within the College Creek watershed, or drainage area.

The overall goal of the watershed action plan is to remove College Creek from TDEC’s 303(d) list.

Removal from the list is expected to take several years, and it is the goal of the Greene County Soil Conservation District and its partners to have College Creek removed from the list around 2015, Hayden said.

Cooper said that, in his nine years with TVA, he has only seen one impaired stream improved to the point that it can be “delisted.”

“It’s a long process,” he said.

Much Work Accomplished

Students were divided into groups of about eight on Thursday.

They were under the direction of a faculty member, and support persons were provided by the TVA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Greene County Soil Conservation District, TDEC, and the college’s Bonner Scholars.

The work day of service is part of the curriculum for a class called “The Tusculum Experience,” said Joyce Doughty, interim director of the Tusculum College Center for Civic Advancement.

Doughty said Tusculum seeks ways for students to have the opportunity to provide volunteer service “because that’s such an important part of the college’s mission.”

Other opportunities are provided, she said, in hopes of developing the habit of volunteer service.

“The ultimate goal,” she said, is to turn students into “engaged citizens.”

Hayden said he hoped to recruit three to five volunteers who are interested in biology, life sciences, environmental science, or some related field.

Cooper encouraged the students in his group to volunteer for projects that are related to the career they want to enter.

“It’s a good way to get a job,” Cooper said, because a history of volunteering provides valuable experience and sets an applicant apart from somebody with a brand-new diploma.

“That’s how I did it,” he told the students.

Other Service Projects

Students and their instructors also traveled to seven other sites for a variety of service projects.

Students at Rural Resources were split into small groups working on a variety of projects including creating large planters to be distributed to area residents to allow them to grow their own “mini-gardens.”

Making improvements to the playground area at the Education Center of Greene County was the accomplishment of the morning for one class.

At the Child Advocacy Center for the 3rd Judicial District in Mosheim, students were able to provide assistance in a variety of ways, including some painting.

Two classes’ service involved working directly with the people served at their project sites.

A class traveled to Comcare Inc., where they interacted with the clients. Another group went to Greeneville Care and Rehabilitation Center, where they entertained residents with games.

Painting, landscaping, repairing the fencing around a riding rink, and unloading hay bales and sawdust for the horse barn kept the students who went to the Crumley House Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center in Limestone busy.

The work of the students and others who volunteer their time is very much appreciated, said Wayne Hunigan, program director at the Crumley House.

“We are a small organization, and we don’t have a large staff,” he said. “When students and other organizations volunteer, it means a lot to us. It allows us to get projects done that would be difficult for us to do without help.”

Another class also stayed on campus, going to the Doak House Museum, where the students helped assemble about 1,000 craft kits to be used in the museum’s upcoming educational programs for public school children.