If ever there was a dean’s list for community service, NYIT volunteers would earn top honors for their contributions through the college’s “50 Hours for 50 Years” program. The effort is NYIT’s way of giving back to local communities as the college celebrates its golden anniversary. Since last fall, the program has enabled more than 400 students, alumni, and faculty and staff members to work with 15 nonprofit and charitable organizations on Long Island and Manhattan.

For example, during the 2005 holiday season, volunteers collected thousands of new, unwrapped toys for needy children as part of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. They also collected and delivered coats for New York Cares to help hundreds stay warm during the winter months. In addition, volunteers participated in “New York Cares Day” to help schoolchildren at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Activities included painting classrooms, hallways and murals, as well as organizing the school’s supply room.

NYIT student athletes showed their winning style, too, as members of the women’s soccer team donated food and cooked dinner for guests at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park, N.Y. And the college’s NCAA Division II lacrosse champs pulled off another timely victory when they visited the Bailey Arboretum in Lattingtown, N.Y., to help the park prepare for the winter season.

“We were very impressed with how hard the team worked,” says Joe Ferrara, volunteer coordinator at the Bailey Arboretum, “and we look forward to working with NYIT’s sports teams again.”