Penn State York honors the academic achievements and service of its outstanding students, faculty and staff for the 2017-18 year at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22, during the 47th annual Academic Awards Ceremony. The event will take place at Heritage Hills Golf Resort, 2700 Mt. Rose Ave., York, Pennsylvania. More than 80 academic and service awards will be presented during the program.

Penn State York students in the human development and family studies program will be conducting self-report survey research during the Diabetes Expo that will be held on campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 24. The free event, open to the public, is sponsored by the Diabetes Coalition of York, and will be held in the conference center of the Main Classroom Building.

Penn State York students participating in an alternative spring break this week in Texas have shared a few photos as their experience is coming to a close. The York group, consisting of 10 students and two chaperones, joined students and staff from five other Penn State campuses for a week of disaster-relief work in areas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.

Helping other people, making a difference, the experience of meeting new people, stepping out of their comfort zone, sharing a meaningful goal, and putting spring break to good use are just some of the reasons given by Penn State York students about to travel to Texas, the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas, devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey brought devastation to Houston, Texas, and many other towns along the Gulf Coast. For Dan Puccio, associate direct of student affairs at Penn State York, the photos on the news and social media reminded him of the catastrophic loss in New Orleans, a place he used to live and work. Although he wasn’t in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Puccio remembers seeing the impact on that city and its residents years later. Those memories, shared with him by friends and colleagues who lived through Katrina, inspired him to do something.

Potentially, more than 200 lives may be saved thanks to the donors who participated in Penn State York’s Community Blood Drive in partnership with the American Red Cross and Fox 43 News on Aug. 24. There were 82 donors registered, including 27 first-time donors, and 78 pints of blood collected.