Starting the Year with Serving Others

Service is a big part of the Trinity experience, and students started the new academic year off by volunteering in the community.

First Year Forum (FYF) leaders, including 21 mentors, student directors, and First Year Experience Director Emily Bosscher, spent time during their training week to work at Restoration Ministries in Harvey, Illinois.

The group helped decorate classroom bulletin boards with inspiration messages in preparation for the beginning of the after-school program sessions. In addition, Restoration Ministries leaders provided the Trinity volunteers with a more in-depth overview of the ministry.

Another project during the first week of classes involved 15 FYF mentors and 13 faculty mentors working alongside about 200 incoming freshmen at the Children’s Hunger Fund.

Volunteers wrapped gifts, packaged food, and learned more about the organization’s mission to deliver food—and hope—to children in the United States and around the world.

“It was exciting to see these new members of Trinity’s community so joyfully and actively participating in service, and many of them afterwards expressed interest in serving more,” said FYF Student Co-Director Ben Hoeskstra ’17 of Andover, Minnesota. “This interest is encouraging in the first few weeks of the semester, as service is an important component of First Year Forum and each student’s broader experience at Trinity.”