A group of Elizabethtown College students and employees lived out the College’s “Educate for Service” motto by participating in the Center for Community and Civic Engagement’s (CCCE)’s annual Fall Break Service Trip, which took place on Oct. 5 through 7.

Elizabethtown College students at the Habitat for Humanity build site.

The Blue Jays remained on campus during the break to take part in the service initiative, cataloging more than 20 hours of service each. The group traveled to the Lancaster-Lebanon Habitat for Humanity’s build site in nearby Columbia, Pa. working for eight hours each day to help build housing for disadvantaged families.

“It was a very humbling experience,” Biology major Sheyla Sosa ’24 said. “It’s nice seeing the progress we’ve made as a team and knowing it’s for a good cause.”

Projects included placing siding on four row houses and helping build scaffolding and frames for outdoor storage. Students were able to learn new skills like using power tools, while getting a hands-on look at the work that goes into building a home.

Etown students deliver cold-weather items to Hands Across the Street.

The experience was a rewarding one for participants as eight students and three faculty members took part on Friday with seven students and one faculty member lending a helping hand on Saturday and Sunday.

“Learning new skills and helping the community will help me later in life and in my career,” Early Childhood Education major Macey Coll ’27 said.

Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that assists families by building and improving places to call home, under the belief that affordable housing plays a critical role in strong and stable communities.

The students also delivered 530 cold-weather items to Hands Across the Street, a homeless shelter in Columbia, Pa., which were donated as part of an Etown incoming student deposit campaign last fall.

Etown committed to donating one cold weather item, which included thermal socks, fleece scarves, knit gloves, and knit hats, to a local service organization for every incoming Class of 2027 student who made their enrollment deposit to Etown before May 1, 2023. A total of 530 students deposited to Etown by May 1 with the College’s total incoming class eventually rising to its highest enrollment since 2009 with 580 students (546 first-years and 34 transfers).