Cornell University’s David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement recently received a $1M gift endowing its Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST). The generous contribution from Jon Anderson ’71, establishes a fund that will support the program and its staff in perpetuity while allowing for additional year-round programming and scholarships for students who could not otherwise participate.

“POST eases the transition to college life by building smaller communities rooted in mentorship and connection,” said Renée Farkas, director of student programs for the Einhorn Center. “More than a pre-orientation program, its many students’ first introduction to Cornell, as well as their first experience of belonging, community engagement and service.”

Founded in 1996, POST is open to first-year and transfer students and provides incoming Cornellians with an opportunity to engage with one another and returning student leaders while receiving an introduction to off-campus volunteering opportunities. Since its inception, over 1,500 POST participants have logged nearly 33,000 service hours in the greater Ithaca community.

“There’s a lot more to education than what happens in the classroom,” said Anderson. “I think it’s incredibly important that Cornell not only invests in shaping students’ individual academic and professional pursuits, but that we’re helping them grow into active, engaged citizens. In order for our society to function well, people have to be willing to give to their communities and to the things that helped shaped them – and Ithaca shaped me in a really positive way.”

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