COMMUNITY ACTION: Princeton University freshmen taking part in the annual community service program preceding their orientation week visited a variety of locations in town and across New Jersey. One group even got to do some drumming with some residents at the Princeton Senior Resource Center.

Attending Princeton University and living on its leafy campus could leave students with an insular view of life. But the University’s Community Action program wants them to know that there is another world outside the “orange bubble.” During the week before freshmen orientation, the 11-year-old program offers new students a chance to learn community service skills and put them to work.

The students pitch in here in Princeton and travel to urban areas like Trenton, Philadelphia, and Newark to help out with a range of projects focusing on hunger, homelessness, the arts, the environment, health, education, interfaith service, law and justice, and more. Two new group topics, community journalism and local history, were added this year.

The program is voluntary and attracts more students every year. “This is our largest Community Action yet,” said Elsie Sheidler, associate director of the University’s Pace Center for Civic Engagement, which administers the program. “We have the most freshmen participating, and more groups than we’ve ever had. It signifies the fact that we’ve made more community partnerships. And more freshmen are hearing the good news about meaningful service.”

Last week, 200 freshmen and 54 undergraduate student leaders took on 20 initiatives with the nonprofits and faith-based organizations that collaborate with Community Action. Locally, they included Community House, Princeton Nursery School, Princeton Senior Resource Center, the Princeton YWCA, Enable Inc., Lawrence Nature Center, and the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.

On a steamy morning last week, a group of students gathered at Hinds Plaza in front of Princeton Public Library before fanning out across the town to help inform residents of the Witherspoon/Jackson neighborhood, near the former site of Princeton Hospital, that free transportation was available to replace a recently discontinued NJ Transit bus line to the new hospital in Plainsboro.

Among them were Sarah Levy, who comes from Brooklyn, and Aleksander Vladicic, from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The two knocked on doors of private homes and businesses, asking people if they were aware of the free taxi service for those who live within a half mile of the old hospital. The University Medical Center of Princeton moved from Witherspoon Street to Plainsboro in May, 2012.

 “A lot of people hadn’t known about it,” said Ms. Levy. “They were confused about why the old hospital had moved when it used to be right in their neighborhood and within walking distance of their houses.” Added Mr. Vladicic, “Everybody was very grateful to hear what we had to say. They believed that since the transit service was discontinued, there was no way for them to get to the hospital.”

Some of the students also helped out at the Princeton Senior Resource Center and the Crisis Ministry at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Those joining the new history group focused their energies on Trenton. “They looked at the city as a major manufacturing hub and how it all contributes to the social and political landscape of New Jersey,” said Ms. Sheidler. “They visited The Old Barracks and other sites as part of their experience. The journalism group met with the Planet Princeton and Planet Trenton websites to explore the role in making community leaders accountable to the public.”

Administrators of the program try to match students with groups that fit their interests. Freshmen are sent an email to make them aware of the opportunity with Community Action and Outdoor Action, an additional program. “When they apply, we ask them questions about the types of issues that interest them and go from there,” Ms. Sheidler said. “We do our best to give them their selection. For the most part, everyone is happy.”

Community Action fits in with University President Christopher Eisgruber’s efforts to make service a priority in his campus-wide strategic planning efforts. “In fact, his pre-read this summer was Whistling Vivaldi, a book about stereotypes by Claude M. Steel, which we have made the context of a dinner discussion we hold mid-week,” said Ms. Sheidler. “We all read it, and think about what the message is and how that relates to what the students are seeing around the communities, and the service they are doing.”

Many of the students who sign up for Community Action have already been involved in helping others. “There are students who in high school have already engaged in service, and they are looking for ways to continue to engage,” Ms. Sheldler said. “They can do that, not just in this first week, but throughout their time here at Princeton.”