Today more than 700 Berry College students, faculty and staff participated in the college’s annual First-Year Service Day.

Berry’s first-year students will head to more than 30 different work sites throughout Rome and Floyd County, accompanied by their First-Year Seminar instructors and First-Year Mentors.

In addition to providing approximately 2,000 hours of work to the community, the day is an opportunity for new students to get to know each other better by working side-by-side, according to Katherine Powell, Director of the Office of First-Year Experience.

She explained that, "It also introduces them to their new community and to the culture of service that has existed at Berry from the beginning. Berry’s motto, ‘Not to be ministered unto but to minister,’ is something we want our new students to embrace right at the beginning of their college careers.”