Empire State Service Corps grows, helping Binghamton University students improve communities

If you're serving one person, you're serving all mankind.

Rabia Khan, a junior biology and sociology major at Binghamton University, has been guided by that philosophy her entire life. That desire to help others is what drove her to join 100 students at Binghamton who are part of the Empire State Service Corps, a growing program that enables students throughout the State University of New York (SUNY) system to engage in paid public service over the course of an academic year.

“I really believe in ‘now or never,’ and that if you can make a difference, just do it right now because you don't know when you will get a chance to do it again,” said Khan, a Westchester, New York resident whose community service has focused on sustainability. “I'm really curious about the food process and what’s being placed on someone else’s table. It’s helped me recognize how important it is to make things better for even one person.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 9, she and other Binghamton students in the Empire State Service Corps received an extra hand from SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr., during a visit to Binghamton that celebrated the program’s growth to include 1,000 students participating across 57 campuses across the SUNY system. Together, they assembled approximately 1,000 back-to-school hygiene kits containing toothbrushes, body wash, and hair grooming supplies for local schools and nonprofits.

“The people you meet and the connections you form along the way are the strongest parts of this program,” said Quinn Masalsky, a junior majoring in global public health and environmental studies from Vermont who has worked with Windsor Human Development, a local pantry providing food, clothing and hygiene products to those in need. “What we offer in terms of food and hygiene and all that is almost secondary to how we connect people in the community, help them be responsible for each other, and care for each other. Originally, this was just to make money and sustain myself, but it has become a truly transformative experience.”

Empire State Service Corps allows SUNY students to engage in 300 hours of paid public service work over the course of an academic year.  At Binghamton, the program is coordinated through the Center for Community Engagement, connecting students with on-campus and community-based service opportunities. Selected students are placed in a cohort aligned with their areas of interest, allowing them to be paid for meaningful work that builds lifelong skills while creating lasting impact in their community.

“Service is an essential ingredient of holistic student success, and I’m enthusiastically in support of the Empire State Service Corps’ mission,” said Binghamton University President Anne D’Alleva. “Taking time to help others makes college students feel more confident and able and it boosts everything else they do as students. I’m proud that Binghamton students do so much on behalf of the neighbors in our community and the Empire State Service Corps gives them both the avenue to volunteer and meaningful compensation for their time and efforts.”

The program launched in 2024 with 35 students statewide. Gov. Kathy Hochul allocated $2.75 million for the program in the New York state budget for fiscal year 2025, paving the way for more teams, including one that enables students to mobilize and help people across the state affected by a natural disaster or other crisis. 

“The Empire State Service Corps provides our students with vital opportunities to uplift their local communities, while completing paid public service that prepares them for future careers,” King said. “SUNY's Service Corps members are leaders who are willing to step up and make a positive difference in the lives of New Yorkers. I was proud to join our Service Corps members at Binghamton for their day of service and applaud all of our dedicated members throughout the state as they work to make a difference in their on- and off-campus communities.”

Areas where the students perform community service include:

• working with elementary, middle and high school students to support academic achievement and combat common challenges such as chronic absenteeism, access to socio-emotional learning, mentoring, and mental health support
• serving alongside local nonprofits and state agencies on sustainability work, such as recycling campaigns, tree planting, pollinator gardens, and sustainability outreach 
• supporting reentry and stability by connecting justice-impacted individuals to resources, opportunities, and community networks

Brady Ellicott, a junior philosophy, politics, and law major from North Salem, New York, is pursuing her volunteer work with the Binghamton University Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools. There, she works to be someone younger students can turn to for advice and helps develop programs to support their needs. 

Ellicott believes that students who know they have resources or networks of support become empowered to succeed, despite whatever obstacles they’re facing in life.

“What drew me to work with them, however, was the fact that I had grown up in a district with tons of resources. I had great relationships with my administrators, countless teachers who really cared about my direction, and coaches and fellow students who massively shaped my values. Without them I would not be the student or person I am today,” she said. “I really do believe it takes a village to raise a child, I wanted to be part of helping the University become a bridge in building that community.” 

As the state’s largest AmeriCorps program, the Empire State Service Corps gives students who complete 300 service hours an AmeriCorps Segal Education Award of up to $1,400 for their service. 

For Liam Rupprecht, however, one of the most rewarding aspects of Empire State Service Corps has to do with the lessons he’s been able to pass along to his fellow students while working with the University’s Office of Sustainability.  Last year, he hosted on-campus events as a sustainability ambassador, including movie and bingo nights that became fun social events.

“By getting other members of the campus interested in the environment and how they can, just through small actions, also help the environment, I was able to also teach them about how our broader systems don't always help the environment and why we should change that,” said Rupprecht, a junior geography major from Syracuse. 

Having spent a lot of time in high school working on ways to improve outcomes for disenfranchised and disadvantaged communities, Rupprecht echoed his fellow volunteers in the Empire State Service Corps, saying that this program has given him the chance to keep pursuing that work, but on an even larger scale.