45 incoming students receive a community-service orientation

POST participants, freshmen Elizabeth Paci, from Newton, Mass., and Stephen Palmer, from Hanover, N.H., help clear a trail at a preserve in Danby for the Fingerlakes Land Trust, Aug. 19. Charles Harrington/University Photography

The seventh annual Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST), a project of the Cornell Public Service Center, is taking place this week, as a group of new Cornell students are getting a head start on making friends, performing community service projects for a number of local agencies and becoming familiar with the Ithaca community. This week, ending Friday morning, 45 incoming CU students and 18 upper-class team leaders are spending their days and nights exploring the Ithaca community through service projects and recreational programming.

The students are working with a total of 14 agencies this year over a four-day period, for a combined total of 1,512 hours of service to the community. Sites include the Finger Lakes Land Trust (a joint project this year with students from Ithaca College's Community Plunge program), SPCA, Cayuga Nature Center, Oak Hill Manor, Longview, the Ithaca City School District, the Ithaca Fire Department and the Tompkins County Office for the Aging.

Service projects include preparing local schools for the new school year, trail maintenance at a variety of sites, painting projects, visiting with the elderly, painting fire hydrants and helping other agencies to clean up and organize a variety of spaces.

During the evenings, participants are taking part in a number of activities in the Ithaca community, including a scavenger hunt throughout downtown and a community dinner with agency representatives. The program culminates tonight with a celebratory picnic at Stewart Park.

For more information about POST or the Public Service Center, call 255-1148 or visit the web site: http://psc.cornell.edu.