TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Students at The University of Alabama will have an opportunity early in the academic year to get acquainted with new friends and get connected to the Tuscaloosa community through the “Hooking Up With the Tide” program.

The third-annual “Hooking Up With the Tide,” a volunteer program that will be held Saturday, Aug. 28, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., offers students a way to engage themselves with the Tuscaloosa and UA communities.

Registration for the event will be from 9:30-10 a.m. at the Ferguson Center Plaza on the UA campus. Participants will be divided into four groups to do community service projects at Holt Elementary, Habitat for Humanity, Oak Hill School and the Kentuck Art Center.

The event, which is coordinated jointly by the UA Office of Volunteer Services, Residential Life and the Russell Student Health Center, emphasizes not only growth in the community, but growth in the individual through service, as well. It also gives students the opportunity to give back to their community, and it provides new students with a way to network and socialize in their first week on campus.

Participants may register on the day of the event at the Ferguson Plaza, and online registration is available at www.volunteer.ua.edu.

For more information on “Hooking Up With the Tide,” contact Jeremy Henderson, UA coordinator for residential communities, at 205/348-0209 or jhenderson@sa.ua.edu.