ENGINEERING STUDENTS TAKE A STUDY BREAK TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY…
Front: David Julian, Rachel Dang Second: Aimee Corn, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lisa Stenberg, Daniel Pichardo, Alyssa Ardourel Back: Katrina Schwab
On Saturday, February 26th, Engineers Without Borders paired up with Habitat for Humanity for a much needed study break to use power tools, give back to the community and have a good time. Ten engineering majors spent the day finishing a silt fence, ¬organizing lumber, hanging a mural and spreading gravel for a parking lot. The King County affiliate was impressed to hear we were there simply to volunteer, not because of a requirement for a service learning class, “It is impressive a group of college students is willing to wake up so early on at Saturday morning and come out in the freezing cold and commit to a full day of work.”
We were all excited to be working with habitat, regardless of the snow we encountered in the afternoon. Katrina Schwab, Junior Civil Engineering major says she wanted to volunteer to get a “break from the monotony of studying and homework assignments. I’ve been given so much and have been blessed. I wanted to go to help bless someone who has a real need. Also, to apply what we’ve learned in the classroom to the real world. I’d say that frozen gravel pile was well graded with 20% fines.”
Everyone enjoyed working on different tasks, relieving some built up stress from the weekly homework assignments, lab write ups and tests. David Julian, Senior Civil Engineering major says “doing that work for the day reminded me of why I am putting up with all the school work I am doing and beating a mound of gravel with a pickaxe was awesome!” College students can get stuck in a routine so it is nice to shake things up every now and then. Working with habitat on Saturday did just that for us; helped us get out of our routine and motivate us to finish the quarter strong. 
Lisa Stenberg, Junior Civil Engineering major sums up the day “I had a lot of fun Saturday. Even though it was freezing, I was happy to be there helping our community. My favorite part of the day was when we finished hanging the mural. We were able to see how much work we had done. I wanted to go since it is always fun to be active and do different types of construction work and it’s even more satisfying since you are helping those in need.”
Saturday will be remembered as a hard day of work, a wonderful learning experience as well as a fun filled day of wheelbarrow races, frozen gravel piles, and Ezell’s. Hopefully this can become a quarterly event!
Aimee Corn
Junior Civil Engineering
Seattle University