Pre-Orientation Service Program brings first-year students and Easton community together

By Grace Sanborn ’25

Before first-year students began orientation, 30 incoming students had a chance to connect early with the Easton community through the Pre-Orientation Service Program (POSP).

POSP, which is run through the Landis Center for Community Engagement, gives community-focused students the opportunity to move to campus five days early in order to connect with upperclassmen and learn about community engagement through involvement with the Easton community. 

Jodi Fowler, associate director of civic leadership programs for Landis Center, says that POSP allows incoming students to “break the bubble” of Lafayette.

“So many times, students come onto this campus and never leave [College Hill],” Fowler says. “We want students to understand that Lafayette is more than just the campus.” 

Along with the 30 first-year students, 32 student staff members returned to campus early to run the four different camps at Gracedale Nursing Home, the Joseph H. Firth Youth Center in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, the Kids in the Community (KIC) day camp at Paxinosa Elementary School, and the Urban Garden Initiative, which included days at LaFarm, Easton Garden Works, and the Neighborhood Center.  

Many student leaders including Erin Caputo ’25, co-executive director, and Lauren Davidson ’27, director of first-year students, participated in POSP their first year and have returned as staff each summer since. 

“POSP helps students root themselves in the community,” Caputo says.  

“POSP was instrumental to my adjustment to life at Lafayette when I was a first-year,” Davidson says. “I was able to connect with like-minded, service-oriented students as soon as I got on campus, and was able to make friendships that I still have today.”

Students also participated in community-building activities on campus, including a scavenger hunt and a game night. 

“We do our best to make sure they’re busy, but busy in a way that’s really productive and fun,” Fowler says.

For first-year students like Nolan Crandall ’28, Phoebe Haverstick ’28, Lexi Handelman ’28, and Milan Iezzi ’28, POSP allowed them to build a close community of friends at Lafayette. 

“It was really hard to adjust to living permanently in a new community, and being involved in POSP gave me a sense of belonging, not just at Lafayette, but in Easton as well,” Crandall says. 

“POSP really helped me adjust to life at Lafayette, because it allowed me to explore the campus and Easton before everyone else got here,” Haverstick says. 

“Having that underlying sense of continuous friendship was so important in my adjustment to Lafayette, because I knew that I could walk around Lafayette and have people who I could wave hello to and people who want to get together and grab lunch,” Handelman says.

“POSP is almost a gateway into the Landis Center,” Iezzi says. “It gets you involved and connected with the staff, who have programs they help run in the community …  I think that there’s a general consensus of my year, all the first-years, that we want to come back because it is such an inviting, warm first experience at Lafayette.” 

“I just hope that POSP really is the catalyst for more engagement during their time at Lafayette. As much fun as they had, and the friendships they made, I hope the relationships they built in the community inspire them to continue their involvement for years to come,” Fowler says.  

To learn more about POSP and Landis Center’s community engagement opportunities, visit the Landis Center site.