Members of Hamilton's class of 2013 will have a quick orientation to the area that will be their home for the next four years when they embark on the second Hamilton Serves! volunteer orientation effort on Aug. 26. All 466 first-year students will spend four hours volunteering at 46 non-profit agencies in the area.

Amy James, Hamilton’s director of outreach and orientation, is coordinator of the program. “We’re thrilled to be doing this for our second year and feel that both the students and the community benefitted in both tangible and intangible ways,” she said. “Last year some hard work was done that needed doing, and the students who provided the "person power" learned a lot about the community - and hopefully something about themselves in the process. We hope this and other Hamilton programs will pave the way for further involvement and successful partnerships in the future,” James said.

The student volunteers will be working on a Renaissance Fair and pet show at the Presbyterian Home, managing a children's art fair and program at the Rome Art and Community Center, having a luau at United Cerebral Palsy, and moving props and set pieces into the new Players’ Theatre of Utica. Others will do landscaping and outdoor work at St. Elizabeth's Hospital’s Nurses Park and work on playground and athletic facilities at Clinton schools.

Other area Hamilton Serves sites this year include Root Farm, the Utica Public Library, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Refugee Center, Rescue Mission, Hope House and Masonic Care Community.