The USE Program is a preorientation program, a parallel option to Adirondack Adventure. As an entering first-year student you will form a tight bond with 6-10 of your peers in a small student-led group to get to know each other while serving at a non-profit agency in the nearby city of Utica.
WHEN? Arrive on campus on Friday, August 14 and the program runs until the beginning of New Student Orientation on August 22.
WHY YOU SHOULD DO USE
Some students are not wild about the camping life, doing the tent thing, but would like to participate in a preorientation group.
Some students have some background in community service and want to get started at Hamilton College, figuring out what service opportunities are nearby right off the bat.
Some just know it's fun.
LEADERS
You'll have some of the coolest, brightest... AND funniest students at Hamilton College leading your trip. Meet the Staff...
Here are some of the things you will experience in the USE program:
One or more volunteer sites around Utica: Habitat, Refugee Center, YWCA, soup kitchen, and more
A local ethnic restaurant
Utica music street fair
Fine arts museum
Dinner with Hamilton faculty members
Tour of Utica's historic brewery
Your group will be "camping" indoors at a downtown Utica site, usually with some comforts of couches and carpets, and kitchens for cooking together most of your meals. You will be engaged in some important service to the Utica community, and you will have a blast.
After the Utica service, we join various Adirondack Adventure groups at an Outdoor Education center for a day of high ropes and to meet more of your new Hamilton classmates, culminating in a campfire experience. All preorientation trips reconvene together on campus for a final banquet together on the night before New Student Orientation begins.
