Instead of sleeping in on Sunday, Frances Crespi found herself on her hands and knees, scrubbing Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon mats as part of the Homecoming Day of Service.

About 300 students took part in the event, which was created by the Homecoming overall committee to combine service with the homecoming celebration.

"There has been a long line of Penn Staters that have given back to the community," said Stan Latta, director of unions and student activities and one of the speakers at the event.

Immediately following the speeches was a performance by the a cappella group None of the Above, which got the crowd going with its rendition of Ace of Base's "The Sign."

Participants were then split into their respective groups, and some participated in ice-breaking activities before heading to their service sites.

"I'm going to the University Park Nursing Center," Kasey Holloway (freshman-premedicine) said. "I'm looking forward to interacting with the senior citizens."

Other projects included Thon mat cleaning, arts and crafts with children from the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America program, volunteering at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and constructing shelving at the Penn State Visitors' Center.

Greg DeBuck, Thon OPPerations overall chairman, said the mat cleaning process would take much longer without the help of the 120 volunteers present yesterday afternoon.

"This is new. It's great to have the extra helping hands in the community," he said.

Crespi (senior-chemistry) said the mat cleaning was a good way to meet new people and that she has always enjoyed community service.

Laurence Burke (sophomore-computer science) said that he enjoyed mat cleaning but wanted to interact with the community more because he enjoys performing community service.

"I wish it were a little more spread out, going to the community," he said.

Alumni Relations and Community Service Chair Julie Noblick said the AT&T Center for Service Leadership aided the service program.

Dan Barber, a service learning coordinator, said the locations for service were chosen from information provided by the center.

"They have a list of about 200 agencies and we narrowed it down to sites around the State College area," he said.

When all the events ended at about 3 p.m., the participants came back to HUB Heritage Hall with positive feelings about how the day's events played out.

"I was surprised at the creativity of the kids," Laurel Busony (senior-advertising) said. "They were all excited to have a handful of arts and crafts to take home."

Although it was the first year for the event, things went as planned, Noblick said.

"There were some minor last minute changes, but overall it went off as expected," she said.