Class Begins Two Weeks Early For A Group Of UC Freshman Honors Scholars

A group of new UC students heads to class on Sept. 6, but instead of pens, notebooks and laptops, they’ll be banging out English 101 with hammers and nails.

Date: 9/6/2005 12:00:00 AM
By: Dawn Fuller
Phone: (513) 556-1823

Photos By: Dottie Stover

A University of Cincinnati class of academically talented freshmen will literally be wearing hardhats as they tackle their Honors English 101 class and become the first UC volunteers to get to work on UC’s latest partnership with Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity. Divided into groups of 10 students, the Honors Scholars will work from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 6-10 and Sept. 13-16 at the construction site located at 3552 Haven St. in Avondale. The second group of students will finish up their assigned work from 7:30 a.m.-11 a.m. on Sept. 17, and then get ready for UC Convocation, their formal welcome to the university, which takes place at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

Students raise the first wall of the home on Sept. 8.

This is the second such class of first-year students taking part in this service-learning course that connects the students’ work in the community to their studies in the classroom, as they write about their experience at the Habitat site. The class is led by Beverly Brannan, adjunct instructor for the department of English and Comparative Literature.

Also guiding the students will be UC upperclass construction science students, along with Steve Record of Messer Construction, the construction manager on UC’s MainStreet corridor across campus. Volunteers from Messer will be joining UC volunteers at the Habitat construction site as the university-wide work gets underway on Saturdays from fall through spring quarter. The project is also sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and supported by University Dining Services.

The formal university-wide kickoff for the third-annual UC/Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity project will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the site at 3552 Haven St. in Avondale.

Fall classes begin at the University of Cincinnati on Sept. 21.