Even within the University bubble, students are often unaware of the institutional practices around them; buildings get constructed, lightbulbs get changed, toilets get plunged, and nobody really knows how. Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Center for Community Partnerships (CCP) will launch a new campaign  titled, “Did You Know?” which is aimed at raising awareness of the partnerships connecting the University and Middletown.

Some students feel that they could benefit from learning more about the University’s relations with Middletown.

“I think Wesleyan students would participate in more civic engagement if they knew more about what’s going on,” Jessica Seidman ’16 said. “Wesleyan feels kind of like a separate community from Middletown.”

Heading the campaign are Civic Engagement Fellow for the Center for Community Partnerships Dana Pellegrino ’12 and Director of the Center for Community Partnerships Cathy Lechowicz. Pellegrino explained that the campaign will feature twice-weekly sound bites giving facts on relations between Middletown and the University.

The Service-Learning Center, the Office of Community Service and Volunteerism, and the Office of Community Relations are three branches of the CCP, the umbrella group of offices that works on University-community initiatives. In addition, several student groups, such as Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), Wesleyan Alliance for Generational Exchange (WesAGE), Woodrow Wilson Tutoring, and Housing and Hunger, as well as service-learning classes, are also part of the Center. The resources of the CCP are available to students interested in civic engagement.

According to Pellegrino, the pieces of information that “Did You Know?” publishes will come from University offices and student groups. The project will rely strongly on student feedback.

The Office of Community Service (OCS), in addition to offering students the opportunity to secure work-study positions, allows some student groups the chance to help out in projects such as the “Did You Know?” campaign. Lechowicz said that students will have the opportunity to contribute to posts of the “Did You Know?” Campaign. The sound bites will be posted Tuesdays and Thursdays on various social media outlets, among which are Twitter @wes_engage, the OCS Facebook page, the webpage of the CCP, and the Middletown Eye, a blog managed by Middletown residents.

Despite the many media outlets the campaign will be utilizing, not all students are optimistic that the project will meet its intended goals. Although Seidman indicated interest in learning more about partnerships between Middletown and the University, Maria Massad ’16 expressed some doubts about the campaign.

“I think increasing Middletown-University relations is a noble cause, but I think people should be integrated into the community through events and not blogs,” Massad said.

Both Pellegrino and Lechowicz emphasized that the campaign’s main focus is on raising awareness of town-gown partnerships.

“This is not sugarcoat[ing] about engagement,” Lechowicz said.

Pellegrino additionally notes that that the campaign is not intended to make students feel that the University is improving Middletown; rather, the sound bites will showcase occasions of equal partnership between the University and the town.

“It’s about sharing the little things that go on that people may not know about,” Lechowicz said.