"COOL was established to combat the notion that students were apathetic towards community service."

David O'Brien, who graduated from Dartmouth College in 1991 and spent a year coordinating the college's volunteer programs, will be visiting approximately 65 colleges in his trek from Hanover, N.H. to St. Paul Minn - via Atlanta and San Francisco - to promote constructive involvement of youth in their communities.

While visiting schools, O'Brien will be talking with students and administrators about their community service accomplishments. He will be including such success stories in a book he will be writing called Sustaining the Movement: A Blueprint for Successful Service Programs. The book will be published by the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL), a national network of over 650 colleges and universities involved in community service.

"Youth involvement is the key ingredient if our nation intends to pursue social equality and justice," O'Brien says. "Without the empowerment of the youth and thoughtful individual action on their part, our society will not move forward. Community service offers an entry point for students who care. Almost anyone can hammer a nail, teach a language, or play with children. Everyone can do something significant to help their neighbor live a more rewarding life."

O'Brien's eight-month trek will cover 6,400 miles and he will take three months to write the book. Sustaining the movement should be available from COOL in the fall of 1993.


"It's called a movement 'cause it moves"