First Year Students Help Zoo | Video

Jenny Castro | 8/17/2012

The college students are coming back. The first year students at Minot State started orientation Thursday, and some are doing a little community service as part of their introduction to college.

A zoo cleanup is a new part of first year orientation at MSU. But these students aren`t in trouble -- they chose to be there, and they`re meeting knew classmates in the process.

"I don`t know any of them but I`m getting to know them as the day goes on,” says Braeton Traiser, a first year student.

For some, they`d never seen the zoo before the flood.

"Saw it on the news and I just couldn`t believe what happened and then just coming back after the aftermath, it was rough,” says orientation leader, Rachelle Brown.

But for those from around the area, they know what the zoo used to look like.

"I was here literally, like, some summers I`d be here like once a week, so I loved it here,” says Lexi Klein, a first year student from Minot.

Klein is one of many students who were really surprised to see that one year later, there`s still a lot of work to do.

"I just feel really bad because it`s something so terrible to happen it`s definitely not how I remember it at all,” says Klein.

And volunteering for the cleanup turned out to be not as unpleasant as they thought. Whether it was sweeping the dirt, planting new trees, or painting the fences, most of them are glad to be here.

"I`ve been actually really surprised by the number of students who, as we`re unloading the vans back at MSU for the day, said thank you for this opportunity I really enjoyed going back and so I think that is probably the most surprising is that it really did touch some student and open their eyes to how they can help their community,” says Beth Odahlen, the director of the Center of Extended Teaching and Learning at Minot State.

"Now coming here and seeing all the work that needs done it just makes me want to help more,” says Brown.

And just like many people have discovered here in the last year, some of these dirty jobs aren`t as bad, and sometimes enjoyable when there`s more company.

The MSU cleanup groups will be at the zoo Saturday and Monday. They`ve had over 250 new students signup.

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