More Than 2,000 Register as Wildcats Put Service at the Center of Inauguration Week

Maroon Day of Service shirts filled the area around Daisy Stocking Park on Monday morning as Bethune-Cookman University students, employees and alumni began inauguration week by putting one of the institution's defining values into action.

A total of 2,196 people registered for the April 13 Presidential Inauguration Day of Service, including 1,949 students, according to the university's post-event registration count. Same-day local reporting described nearly 2,000 Wildcats gathering for the opening rally before volunteers dispersed to about 50 schools, nursing homes and nonprofit organizations across the Daytona Beach area.

The event opened with check-in and breakfast at 8 a.m. Service assignments ran from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by the President's Cookout at Daisy Stocking Park. Music, dancing and fellowship gave the day a celebratory rhythm, but its purpose was rooted in the example of B-CU founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and the university's enduring charge: “Enter to Learn. Depart to Serve.”

“Service is one of our core values at Bethune-Cookman University.” — President Albert D. Mosley

A university moving with one purpose

The Day of Service was a central part of the celebration surrounding the inauguration of Dr. Albert D. Mosley as Bethune-Cookman's eighth president. By placing community work at the beginning of the week's public events, the university made its priorities visible: leadership at B-CU is inseparable from responsibility to others.

President Mosley told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that the Daytona Beach community has given generously to B-CU and that the university wanted to return that generosity through service. He also said he hopes to make the initiative a twice-yearly tradition — one day in the fall and another in the spring — while encouraging students to build lasting relationships with the organizations they encountered.

Those relationships can continue well after a single assignment ends. A volunteer shift can introduce a student to a new neighborhood, a community need, a professional mentor or even a future internship. For partner organizations, the day created a concentrated wave of assistance while opening a door to deeper collaboration with the university.

Students prepare for hands-on work wearing protective gloves. Photo: Bethune-Cookman University / B-CUnited Media Assets.

“All of us, all in”

The size of the undertaking also tested the university's ability to respond together. Organizers accommodated more than 200 late registrations and adjusted when transportation challenges emerged. In a post-event message to colleagues, Vice President for Student Success Dr. Ronald Williams praised the way teams stepped into action when they saw a need.

“There were no egos, no especially important people; it was the literal materialization of B-CU Rising, All of Us, All in,” Williams wrote. The observation captured what the photographs show: students standing shoulder to shoulder, employees guiding the flow of the day and Wildcats returning from different assignments to celebrate as one university community.

For students, the day turned B-CU's motto from words into practice. They did not simply attend an inauguration-week event; they helped define the character of the week. Their participation placed service beside ceremony and made the installation of a new president an occasion to invest in the city B-CU calls home.

The result was more than a morning away from class. It was a shared statement about the kind of institution Bethune-Cookman intends to be: rooted in Dr. Bethune's legacy, responsive to its neighbors and ready to rise together through service.