60 Binghamton University students took part in in the Welcome Week Service Project, a pilot program sponsored by the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs that gave incoming students the opportunity to engage in service-learning projects around the community before the start of the academic year.
The Welcome Week Service Project evolved from discussions made during development of the University’s Road Map. The purpose of the project is two-fold, program organizer Marty Wygmans said.
“The first purpose is to help them identify and become comfortable with a peer group early on,” Wygmans said. “The second is to help those same students learn about the Binghamton community, to take them out to these service sites and have them build a connection to the community. It’s all about connection-building and giving back to the community that Binghamton University is so proud to be a part of.”
Students worked at four sites in Broome County, including:
• Binghamton University Acres Farm, where students performed basic farming maintenance, learned about sustainable farming practices and toured the Nature Preserve;
• Anne McGuinness Elementary School in Endicott, where students completed a professionally designed tiger on the face of the school’s athletic building;
• Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, where students completed a professionally designed scene of South Africa in the penguin exhibit;
• Discovery Center of the Southern Tier, where students completed various projects to help spruce up the center, including touching up paint on fences
