Six freshmen in the Schreyer Honors College are doing their part to help overseas soldiers relax while trying to give them a taste of home.

As part of a service learning project, the students are collecting all forms of media entertainment as part of a CD, DVD and book drive.

Elizabeth Miller (freshman-biology), who is in charge of advertising for the group, said a lot of brainstorming and thought were involved when deciding what kind of community service project the students would pursue. "We knew that one of the top items that overseas soldiers request in care packages is entertainment media," Miller said. "We thought that a campus full of college students would be the perfect place to find used books, CDs and DVDs."

The service learning project is part of the "Leadership Jumpstart" class offered to Schreyer Honors College freshmen students.

Cheryl Achterberg, dean of the Schreyer Honors College, and Judy Ozment, assistant dean, are professors of the course. Ozment, who acts as a "counselor and a guide" in the class, said she let the students decide on the service leadership project.

"As a leadership program, part of my involvement is not to be involved," Ozment said. "I think the drive is a wonderful idea. The reoccurring theme of helping active duty overseas was snagged and pulled into the limelight because help is an urgency right now."

Cornelius Cornelssen (junior-history) is one of two teaching assistants in charge of the project.

The teaching assistants attend each class session and extra meetings, assist the professors in their lessons and help instruct the class.

"We advise on possible avenues to pursue, people to contact [and] groups to look into," Cornelssen said. "As freshmen ... it is difficult to establish your daily schedule and acclimate to a new and fast-paced environment, let alone trying to network through a system that you know nothing about, but we're very proud of the ground our team has covered and the great camaraderie that they have exhibited."

Laura Foley (freshman-psychology), one of the creators of the drive, said an entertainment drive was the best way to get college students involved.

"They already are provided with food and clothes and items of necessity," Foley said. "What they do not have are things like movies to take them away from the stressful conditions they are living in."

The group will have a table set up in the HUB-Robeson Center until tomorrow to give interested students more information and to start collecting donations. In addition, the group is selling yellow "Support Our Troops" ribbons.

"The proceeds will go toward paying for shipping the media to the troops," Foley said. "We also have autographed footballs from JoePa and the team to reward the highest donors."

Gary Ezekian (freshman-engineering), another student in the class, said there are collection boxes at commons desks in residence areas across campus. "The drive will probably last until mid-November, since we want to send over what we collect by the end of the semester," Ezekian said.