During any normal day at the College Writing Center, it’s a quiet, pencils-on-paper scratching for words atmosphere. Occasionally, whispers are heard between students and tutors.

Finals week is the complete opposite. The room is packed with students in tears on the edge of desperation. Fearing failure, finals week has a negative connotation among students.

The Academic Support Center, in conjunction with the DSC/UCF Writing Center, is trying to change that with an event called “Cram for the Exam.”

Students of Daytona State College’s Flagler Campus are organizing efforts for a positive impact on the community. Mid-spring, Flagler Campus Dean Kent Ryan, his assistant, Rhonda Mitchum, psychology professor Dr. Jon McNeeley and Ram Nayar, Senior Professor of Microbiology, several community volunteers and about 20 students huddled into the tiny faculty break room at the Flagler/Palm Coast campus to discuss forming a chapter of the Roteracht Club, the student version of the Rotary Club service organization.

Dr. McNeeley, a Roteracht veteran since 1983, signed on to sponsor the student chapter and recruited the heads of the Pierson and Flagler chapters, Tim O’Donnell and Sandra McDermott and Donna Tofai, respectively. Several other key community activists also are assisting the group to adhere to Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self.”

It was a warm and friendly atmosphere among faculty, Board of Trustee members, executive directors, deans and even DSC College President Dr. Carol Eaton during a Daytona State College Foundation breakfast at the Conference Center March 27.

Established in1974, the Foundation’s main focus is to help support students financially, so that they may be able to excel in school without the worry of where the rest of the money for their tuition is coming from. The Foundation also helps necessary projects the college is not able to afford. The majority of support for the Foundation comes from private donors. The rest comes from the community, as well as employees of the college, including administration, faculty and staff members. Eighty percent of the Foundation’s money goes to tuition scholarships for DSC students.