For the 10th consecutive year, new Cornell University students will volunteer to provide valuable community service through the highly successful Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST) program. Sponsored by Cornell's Public Service Center, POST provides first-year and transfer students with opportunities to pitch in and help their new community, while making friends and familiarizing themselves with their new hometown. During the past decade, POST volunteers have donated a total of 16,736 hours of volunteer work in the Ithaca community.

"POST has been without a doubt one of the most rewarding experiences I've had at Cornell," said Katie Drew, a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a 2005 POST team leader. Drew was a POST volunteer as a freshman in 2002 and has been a team leader ever since. "I made friends in the program who I now live with, and they will be friends for the rest of my life. It was a great start to my Cornell experience," Drew said.

Beginning the evening of Sunday, Aug. 14, and ending on Friday, Aug. 19, a total of 70 incoming Cornell students, who chose to come to Ithaca a week before official New Student Orientation programs begin on campus, will spend five days and nights working with Drew and other upper-class student team leaders. The new students will participate in numerous community service projects with 20 area organizations, including the Ithaca City School District and TCAT. POST officials expect the teams to provide more than 1,800 hours of service to the community over the week.

Program sites for 2005 POST activities include Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, the Museum of the Earth, Hospicare and Better Housing of Tompkins County. Among the service projects will be: preparing schools for the new academic year, trail maintenance, painting, visiting with elderly area residents and helping community agencies clean up and organize their offices.

Each evening, POST students will participate in activities that will help familiarize them with the Ithaca area. Activities will include a downtown scavenger hunt and a community dinner. On

Thursday, Aug. 18, the program culminates with an evening barbeque to celebrate the students' hard work and transition to Cornell.

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