Before their first semester started, nearly 50 first-year and transfer students at Ramapo College of New Jersey spent part of orientation volunteering throughout Mahwah.
The students were participating in Leaders in Service, a six-day program held August 18 through 23 that introduces new Roadrunners to civic engagement, leadership and the community beyond campus.
A first week built around helping
Ramapo says students prepared grounds at the Mahwah Environmental Volunteers Organization, cleaned around Lake Henry, washed public-works vehicles, helped older residents use technology and sorted books at the Mahwah Public Library.
Other projects during the program included trail maintenance, invasive-species removal, flood mitigation, work in campus gardens and support for pollinator habitats. Fourteen returning students served as peer mentors for the incoming group.
That combination gave new students a practical way to meet one another. Instead of learning only where classrooms and offices were, they learned where community organizations work, what neighbors need and how their college can participate in the place around it.
A welcome that reaches beyond campus
Allene Shapiro, Ramapo's coordinator for community engagement, told the college that connecting students with the wider community before classes begin is part of the point. The program also gives students a starting network of peers and mentors before the academic year accelerates.
The college did not publish a total number of volunteer hours or measurable outcomes for each project, so Genuine Good is not assigning a larger impact figure to the day. The participant count and project descriptions are Ramapo College's own account.
Still, the shape of the welcome matters. Nearly 50 people entered college with an immediate reminder that belonging is not only something a campus gives them. It is also something they can help build—with books, garden tools, patient technology help and a day spent showing up for their new neighbors.