Aug. 23, 2005, Findlay, Ohio — The University of Findlay will host its fourth annual New Student Orientation Service Project on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A joint effort of the University’s Campus Compact Center for Service & Learning and the First-Year Experience program, this event promotes the importance of volunteerism and service. This year, nearly 650 members of the University community, including approximately 600 first-year students, are scheduled to volunteer in the Findlay community to provide hands-on help to more than 30 non-profit, civic and government organizations.

Led by instructors in UF’s First-Year Experience (FYE), orientation leaders, UF staff, alumni volunteers and first-year students will perform three hours of service during the orientation weekend before their first official day of classes on Aug. 29.

Many students will complete service projects related directly to their class topics, including cleaning up along the Blanchard River for the class “The Watershed and I;” visiting residents at the Birchaven Retirement Village for the class “Communication and Relationships;” and various duties at the Fort Findlay Playhouse for the class “From Hula-Hoops to Nose Rings: Youth Culture in the United States.”

“We solicit projects from community agencies and then try to pair agencies/tasks with FYE classes that have a related subject,” Dr. Diana Montague, FYE director, said. “Inclusive in the university's mission to ‘equip students for meaningful lives and productive careers’ is the importance of civic engagement. The orientation project is just one step in examining an aspect of meaningful lives.”

For more information, contact Rebecca Shell, public relations officer, at 419-434-4345 or 419-343-8205.