Cornell is announcing its sixth annual Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST) program for new Cornell students, Aug. 19-24. POST provides a group of first-year and transfer students an intensive introduction to community service work and the Ithaca area.

A project of the Cornell Public Service Center, POST offers students several opportunities: They get a head start on making friends, perform service projects for a number of area agencies and become familiar with the community that will be their home during their time at Cornell.

During the week, 76 incoming Cornell students will spend their days and nights exploring the Ithaca community through service and recreational programming. The students come from 21 U.S. states, as well as the United Kingdom, India, Singapore, Istanbul and Jamaica. Fourteen Cornell upperclassmen will work with the students as POST team leaders.

Daytime hours for POST students, Aug. 20-23, will be devoted to participating in service projects in the community. This year the new students and their team leaders will assist 15 local agencies, performing a combined total of 2,160 hours of service. Agencies with whom the students will be working include the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Hospicare, the Cayuga Nature Center, Lakeside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the Ithaca City School District, the Ithaca Community Recovery Group and the Ithaca Downtown Partnership. Service projects will include serving meals at a food pantry, trail maintenance in several locations, painting, visiting with elderly residents, sorting and organizing books for a lending program and helping agencies clean up and organize a variety of spaces.

During the evenings, POST students will take part in a number of activities designed to help orient them to the Ithaca community. These activities will include a scavenger hunt throughout downtown Ithaca and a community dinner with agency representatives. The program culminates with a Thursday night celebratory picnic at Taughannock Falls State Park, which will include the students, community members, campus officials and some early arriving parents.

For more information about the POST program or the Cornell Public Service Center, call (607) 255-1148 or visit the center's web site at http://psc.cornell.edu.