The section of Vestal Parkway between Jensen and Bunn Hill roads has been co-adopted by Delta Sigma Pi and KPMG LLP, through an official ceremony Sunday.
KPMG, a top-four accounting firm, teamed up with the Binghamton University chapter of DSP, a co-educational professional business fraternity.
According to Melissa Choy, the fraternity’s vice president for community service, DSP had adopted the section of highway in 1998 and was recently approached by KPMG to do a joint community service project.
The ceremony included a clean-up of the section of road at noon, the unveiling of a new sign at 1:45 p.m. proclaiming the co-adoption and an ice cream social at 2:30 p.m. in the New University Union.
Volunteers from KPMG, DSP and students from the School of Management met at Citizens Bank on Jensen Road for the clean-up.
“This generation is even more inclined to going green,” said Bridget Kennedy, a Northeast area campus recruiting manager for KPMG. “It is really a great combination to be able to do an activity that integrates green projects with the corporate office.”
Kennedy also stated that one of KPMG’s core values is a commitment to the community.
The unveiling of the sign was held in front of the Spiedie & Rib Pit on the Vestal Parkway.
“Everything went very well,” Choy said of the unveiling, which included a tarp for the new sign as well as a bow-cutting ceremony.
According to Kennedy, there were around 50 students involved with cleaning the section of road from Citizen’s Bank to Denny’s.
Choy said that the ice cream social, which had around 70 people in attendance, was sponsored entirely by KPMG, with ice cream provided by Sodexo.
According to Kennedy, the ice cream social was an opportunity to say thank you to everyone who attended and give students a chance to talk to current KPMG staff to gain some contacts and network.
“It’s always nice to make Binghamton a little prettier,” she said. “We are really looking forward to trying to continue this on a yearly basis.”
Choy also said that the highway section is usually cleaned twice a semester.
“[DSP] likes to have community service projects that are more hands-on to clean and beautify the community,” she said.
DSP has been a part of several other community service projects, including their co-sponsored blood drive with other fraternities at BU as well as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk every September.