First-year students take part in orientation

DALLAS TWP., Pa. — More than 525 Misericordia University students, faculty and staff fanned out across the region for the seventh annual Orientation Days of Service on Aug. 26-27. The program for first-year students offered a chance to learn about their new environment and provide them with their first opportunity for learning and living the university’s mission of providing service to others in need. Among the students was Karen Traub of New Hartford.

The 436 members of the first-year class, along with orientation leaders, and faculty and staff volunteers, participated in service work at 11 locations in the region, including Back Mountain Trail; Camp Orchard Hill, Dallas Township; Mercy Center, Dallas Township; Wyoming Valley Montessori School, Kingston; Luzerne County Fairgrounds, Lehman; Meadows Nursing Center, Dallas Township; Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge, Franklin Township; Lands at Hillside Farms, Shavertown; and Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Farm, Harveys Lake. The students also assisted with painting at the Bourger Women with Children house at 181 Lake St., and other sites on campus.

The first-year class of 436 is the third largest in the university’s 93-year history, and brings enrollment to about 2,725 for the fall semester. Misericordia University received 2,397 applications for the class, which hails from 13 states including Connecticut.

For more information about Misericordia University, call 570-674-6400 or visit www.misericordia.edu. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County’s first fouryear college and offers 45 academic programs on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full- and parttime formats. Misericordia University ranks in the top tier of the Best Regional Universities – North category of U.S. News and World Report’s 2017 edition of Best Colleges. The Princeton Review recognizes MU as a 2018 Best Northeastern College and MONEY Magazine includes Misericordia in its 2017-18 “Best Colleges” list.

Contributed photo Misericordia University first-year students, from left, Taylor Price, Cooperstown, N.Y.; Paige Lentz, South Williamsport, Pa.; Karen Traub, New Hartford; Luke Newman, Ulster, Pa.; Thomas Paul, Point Pleasant, N.J., and Brian Siket, Pottstown, Pa.,...