Video feature: 'Weapons of Mass Construction 2012'

Weapons of Mass Construction 4 index

More than 80 student-athletes helped refurbish facilities at the YMCA of Greater Trenton this spring for the fourth edition of the Princeton Varsity Club's signature event, Weapons of Mass Construction. Above, Princeton junior Gabriella Guzman, a member of the women's soccer team, helps paint one of the walls at the YMCA.

Video stills courtesy of the Princeton Varsity Club

More than 80 student-athletes visited the YMCA of Trenton for the Princeton Varsity Club's signature community service event, Weapons of Mass Construction. The Princeton University students helped refurbish the lobby, locker rooms, fitness center and playground facilities for the Trenton nonprofit, which hosts a preschool and a burgeoning membership base. 

As shown in this video, members of Princeton's football, women's soccer, men's ice hockey, women's swimming and diving, field hockey, and men's squash teams mulched, weeded, scrubbed and painted the facilities. The event, held in the spring of 2012, was a partnership between the Princeton Varsity Club, the YMCA of Trenton and the United Way of Greater Mercer County.

For each of the past four academic years, the Princeton Varsity Club has taken a large group of student-athletes off campus for a one-day service project. In 2009, the group helped refurbish Mill One, a 6.5-acre site that is being converted by Isles Inc. into a mixed-use green village. In 2010, the group built a 10,000-square-foot garden that was formed to grow fresh vegetables and teach young men and women about the importance of farming. The group returned to Mill One in 2011, constructing an urban farm outside of the mill.

To date, more than 450 Princeton student-athletes, coaches and administrators have contributed more than 1,800 service hours through the Weapons of Mass Construction program.