The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, March 31, 2014 - 5A
De troit Partnership Day draws 1,400
DP DAY
From Page IA
the city and want to change it and
want to make itcbetter."
At Neighbors Building Bright-
moor, a local organization
dedicated to neighborhood bet-
terment, students used rakes
and shovels to clean up streets
and sidewalks. They also painted
signs with inspirational messag-
es. The signs will be placed along
the Lyndon Greenway in North-
west Detroit to motivate children
as they pass by on their way to
school.
Detroit resident Dawn Wilson
Clark painted the signs along with
students. She said DP Day gives
University students the opportu-
nity to see Detroit firsthand.
"It gives them an opportunity
to see positive things in the neigh-
borhood as opposed to what they
see on the news," Clark said.
Public Policy junior Patrick
Sier, DP major events director,
said the event ending the day was
called a rally, but this year the
organization emphasized reflec-
tion. Site leaders were encouraged
to reflect on the day and ask par-
ticipants questions.
"We're trying to make this
more of a starting point for a lot
of people, tryingto get them more
interested in social justice issues,"
Salomonsson said. "You shouldn't
just do this once a year.You should
think about why it is important to
do service and continue that."
Business sophomore Trevor
Flegenheimer, who also partici-
pated in DP Day last year, said this
year the organization is focusing
more on cleaning up the city and
interacting with the Detroit com-
munity.
"I feel like we're actually in the
center of the city, making a bigger
difference," Flegenheimer said.
Business sophomore Sam
Woodbury also participated in DP
Day last year. He said this year he
felt like he was able to better con-
nect with the Detroit residents.
"I talked to someone who lives
here and she was thanking us for
coming out today, helping out her
street and helping out her com-
munity," Woodbury said. "Doing
something like that just makes
me want to come back again. It
affirms why we're here--to help
people."
Another group of students
spent the day working at The
Heidelberg Project, an outdoor
art community that transforms
abandoned houses and discarded
objects into art structures.
DP Day participants cleared
out debris and searched for pliable
wood from Heidelberg houses
that were recently burned down
by arsonists. As soot-covered
students dug through the ashes
of what once were homes, they
found ash-ridden stuffed animals
and broken records.
At the end of the day, students
gathered at the James Scott Memo-
rial Fountain on Belle Isle to reflect
on the day. Lloyd Carr, former Uni-
versity football coach - who has
attended DP Day for the past five
years - spoke to participants.
PHOTOS BY VICKI LUI/Daily
(1) Jessica Kezlarian, landscape and site designer for the Heidelberg project,
leads the clean up of one of the burnt down houses that was part of the outdoor
art project Saturday. (2) Khafre Sims Bey, a member of the InsideOut Literary
Arts Project in Detroit, recites a couple of his poems at the closing ceremony
Saturday. (3) Dawn Wilson Clark paints inspirational signs on herfront lawn for
the Brightmoor community through the Detroit Leadership Academy and the
Detroit Partnership. (4) LSA junior Craig Friend works with Trista Dymond, the
site development manager at the Heidelberg project, to clean up the remains of a
burnt down house that was part of the outdoor art project, Saturday. (5) Darlene
Johnson paints inspirational signs for the Brightmoor community Saturday.