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Reading is an essential skill that most experts agree is developed at a very early stage in a child’s education. Yet not all students acquire this vital skill at the same rate, and many need extra help to become fluid readers. To aid some of these students, Hamilton recently began a new community outreach program at Kernan Elementary School in Utica to help second-graders  improve their reading abilities.

On an Alternative Spring Break trip last year, Alysha Banerji ’11 was working with first-graders at a school in North Carolina when one of them proclaimed that his cat had just birthed kittens. The boy asked if Banerji wanted one, but when she told him that pets weren’t allowed in college dorms, he exclaimed, “I want to go to college!”

Hamilton students have the opportunity to establish meaningful relationships with local nonprofit organizations beginning in their first semester of college through a pilot program operated by the Hamilton Community Opportunity and Outreach Project (COOP).

During the 2009-2010 academic year, close to 500 Hamilton students and employees contributed more than 12,000 community service hours in local and remote communities.

While many undergraduates head home or to balmy beach resorts to rest up after grueling midterms, 98 Hamilton students will drive south to volunteer at nonprofit organizations in nine cities during Spring Break, March 13-28. This year marks Hamilton's 17th Alternative Spring Break (ASB), an annual volunteer venture that consists of nine different community service trips to non-profit organizations in the south.

The Corporation for National and Community Service named Hamilton as one of the colleges included on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities. The announcement was made on Feb. 25.

On October 1, a new era in Hamilton community service was ushered in with the official opening in the Chapel of Hamilton’s new Community Outreach and Opportunity Project (COOP), a coalition of students and faculty that aims to increase Hamilton’s involvement with community service. The ceremony featured short addresses by staff members involved in COOP, as well as keynote speaker Steve Culbertson '79, president and CEO of Youth Service America, an organization dedicated to increasing availability of service and volunteer projects to young people.