Weed wackers and hedge trimmers trilled as rakes scraped sidewalks in Scranton.
At their helms were mostly incoming freshmen from the University of Scranton.
"I thought it'd be a good opportunity to help out the new community that I'm going to be a part of for the next five years. And it was also a great way to meet new people right before college started," Alex Kolakowski said.
Kolakowski, an accounting major from East Stroudsburg, was one of 40 first-year-students and 11 upper-class leaders who volunteered with the university's Center for Service and Social Justice’s Freshmen Involved in Reflective Service Together (FIRST) program. The reflective service program brings freshmen to Scranton early to assist at several local nonprofit organizations.
The small group was one of a few who volunteered around the city. They worked alongside NeighborWorks Northeastern PA to clean up a city-owned lot on Fourth Street. The lot will be sold through the Lackawanna County Land Bank.
Freshmen also volunteered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center.
Paying back debt
Rising seniors Thomas Noll and Aiden Mackrell spent the past 10 months volunteering their time to plan and coordinate the week. They picked team leaders and organized the groups.
The week before their freshman year was spent volunteering across Scranton.
Mackrell, a Scranton Prep graduate who is a biology major on a pre-dental track, felt as though he was in debt to the program for what it provided to his life as a new freshman.
"And I always felt as though I needed to give back to this program for what ... it did for me. It got me into service in the University of Scranton. It allowed me to meet a lot of new friends, and the friends I have today I made on this program,” he said.
Noll, a West Scranton High School graduate, is a rising biology and philosophy double major who plans to go to medical school. He said freshman students often dorm, and it’s hard to get off campus.
"I believe it [FIRST] rounds them off as a person," he said. "You know, coming in from places way outside, like New Jersey, upstate New York, we have people from Virginia, it really gives them a sense of community, and what it really means to be from Scranton and be a part of the community,” Noll said.
Scranton from a different perspective
Josie Pardonner is one of those incoming freshmen. She’s from Poughkeepsie, New York, and will study cyber security.
"I could see the ... impact that I make on the community after the end of the day, like seeing the mess in the beginning and then how we cleaned it all up,” she said.
Josie racked up freshly cut, long grass from the lot on Fourth Avenue in Scranton. Her peers bagged up the overgrown vegetation and tossed it in a dumpster.
Josie said about 250 kids applied to be part of FIRST but only 40 are selected.
“We moved in a week early to do this. So it's to see the community before we start school.”
Kolakowski graduated from East Stroudsburg Senior High School South and helped out in his community in the Poconos.
Ahead of college, Kolakowski only spent time in Scranton for open houses at the university.
“Even if I didn't do this program, I still wanted to like, see what the city was really like … it’s a very new perspective.”
