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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Some incoming Wilkes University students got a chance Monday to meet their fellow students and explore their new environment all while helping out a great cause.</p><p>As part of Wilkes&#8217; freshmen orientation, students just learning their way around campus and their upperclassmen mentors gathered at St. Nicholas Church to begin preparations for the church&#8217;s upcoming summer bazaar.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big help,&#8221; said the church&#8217;s Frank Ferriero. &#8220;When they get here, it&#8217;s work, work, work.&#8221;</p><p>The students&#8217; visit kicked off preparation for the bazaar, which will continue every day until the event, which runs July 13-15.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s one of the biggest in Luzerne County &#8230; people come to the bazaar for the first three nights &#8230; but they don&#8217;t know the work that goes into putting it up and taking it down,&#8221; Ferriero explained.</p><p>Incoming freshman Cindy Peralta of Wilkes-Barre was working with her group to carry heavy supplies out of the church&#8217;s garage.</p><p>&#8220;They had two guys and we just brought 10 more people. We got everything out of the garage in about an hour-and-a-half &#8230; that would&#8217;ve taken them possibly all day to do,&#8221; Peralta said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a little hot, but nothing we can&#8217;t handle.&#8221;</p><p>Peralta was just excited to help out as much as she could.</p><p>Her mentor, senior Vince Patriarco from Allentown, has been participating in the university&#8217;s freshmen orientation for two years.</p><p>&#8220;I just like giving back to the community. Going to Wilkes gives you that opportunity to help out and make Wilkes-Barre better as a whole,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Incoming freshman Justine Yeager from Hughesville was helping unload a trailer filled with supplies for the bazaar.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s kind of fun because these are the people you&#8217;re going to spend the next four years of your life with, so it&#8217;s nice to get to know them,&#8221; Yeager said. She enjoyed doing community service all through high school.</p><p>&#8220;Everything they set up for us to do is fun,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Jon Knight, from Scranton, who was part of Yeager&#8217;s group, said it felt good to help.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s kind of fun,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;re all working together so it helps a lot. We just need to keep working hard. It&#8217;s not too hot so it&#8217;s easy to keep going.&#8221;</p><p>Knight and Yeager&#8217;s mentor, senior Josh Landsberger, said he and his mentees were having a great time getting to know each other.</p><p>The university sends students to the church to perform community service every year. During a second freshmen orientation session in July, another group will work on some finishing touches before the bazaar kicks off.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University freshmen orientation leader Josh Landsberger hands folding chairs to incoming freshmen Jon Knight, Kaitlyn Guranri and Sarah Mayhue at the St. Nicholas bazaar grounds Monday in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL062717WilkesFreshmen1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes University freshmen orientation leader Josh Landsberger hands folding chairs to incoming freshmen Jon Knight, Kaitlyn Guranri and Sarah Mayhue at the St. Nicholas bazaar grounds Monday in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL062717WilkesFreshmen2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University freshmen work to unload tables for the upcoming St. Nicholas bazaar. The community service at the church was part of orientation for the incoming students. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL062717WilkesFreshmen2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes University freshmen work to unload tables for the upcoming St. Nicholas bazaar. The community service at the church was part of orientation for the incoming students. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Toni Pennello</p><p>tpennello@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Toni Pennello at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter at @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes incoming freshmen help set up bazaar at St. Nicholas