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The term "college town" is loosely used across the country to describe the town or city in which a college or university is located. It can be easy for both a student and a resident to overlook the meaning of the term.

The community of Marietta cannot escape the tag of being a college town, and students recognize they are part of a larger community. Marietta College has been a piece of the Marietta community for 175 years and is intricately woven into the cultural and economic foundations of the community.

The McDonough Leadership program is a pillar of Marietta College's effort for community impact and involvement.

"The McDonough program has allowed me to involve myself in the Marietta community and has allowed me to benefit the community," said Andrew Parenti, a freshman who helped organize the Betsey Mills Club's annual haunted house with his Make A Difference Day group.

The McDonough program had more than 20 groups active in the community on Make A Difference Day, with sports teams and other student organizations also lending a helping hand.

Students do not reserve their commitment to service for just certain days of the year. Recently Marietta College students teamed with downtown business owners and firefighters to hang Christmas wreaths on downtown light poles. Although these students will be gone for Christmas, they are helping bring holiday cheer to the Marietta area. This was the first year the college has been asked to assist in the decorating, and it was said that this was the fastest the more than 300 Christmas wreaths were hung.

Marietta College also welcomed the opening of the Anderson Hancock Planetarium. There are two community shows a month, and these free shows are always packed.

The campus offers many interesting and unique opportunities to the community that a non-college town is not provided. The college brings in a plethora of lecturers covering subjects from media and broadcasting, to leadership studies, and even famous poets like Maya Angelou. Over the past several years the college has played host to concerts featuring artists like Three Doors Down and Third Eye Blind, and more recently Taylor Swift and Blessid Union of Souls.

Downtown businesses also receive commerce from the college community. American Flags, Poles and More provided the 175th anniversary banners that hung up and down Putnam Street as well as on campus. Students can do boutique shopping, and parents can find souvenirs.

"Marietta College has a great partnership with the downtown," said Sylvi Caporale, who operates the flag store with her husband. "The college enriches the lives and culture of community members."

Caporale also believes there is a two-way street when it comes to learning. The students teach community members, and the community members can learn from the students.

During the flood of 2004, students from the college helped clean out the downtown stores. Some students even stayed with community members while campus housing was renovated after the flood.

"It was the students of Marietta College who were still shopping at midnight, not the community members," Caporale said, speaking of the Dec. 5 downtown event when all shops were open until midnight.

During family weekends and homecoming, the shops and restaurants see an increase in business from families.

"I get a lot of parents with kids coming to look at the college," said Becky Johnston, of Black Sheep Crafts on Front Street. "Parents like to see that there is a viable hometown feel to the community."

Johnston has acted as a foster parent to some students, offering her number to concerned parents in case their son or daughter has an emergency and the family lives out of state.

"Three years ago, there was a boy who walked by my store almost everyday; I'd ask him how he was doing in school. When he graduated, he brought his mother to meet me," Johnston said.

It is this unique pairing between Marietta College and the surrounding community that makes such an important impact. The college introduces the residents of the city to all kinds of cultural opportunities and in return the citizens of Marietta open their community to students for four years, so that they, too, can call Marietta, home.