Samantha Roth, GMA president, University at Buffalo, School of Management, reports on their Alternative Spring Break 2010 service project including first and second year full-time MBA students.
For the second year in a row UB School of Management MBA Students participated in an Alternative Spring Break Trip to New Orleans. Again, 16 students traveled down and worked with the organization Historic Green in the Lower Ninth Ward for four days during the week of March 8th. The students were divided up into smaller groups and given different tasks at different locations around the community. The first group of students worked to build a rain garden for Patsy Story a local community member.
The second group of students worked at the Lower Ninth Ward Village, repairing and restoring windows in the library, insulating the ceiling, and beginning installation of a drop ceiling. The Lower 9th Ward Village is a community-driven, community-led, nonprofit organization and neighborhood center based in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana. The main goal of the Village is to bring together the entire Lower 9th Ward and to empower community members to be self-sufficient and to sustain an equitable quality of life. The Village focuses on connecting the elderly and youth, with services and providing care and guidance from the community as a whole.
The third group of students worked at cleaning up and fencing in the community playground, while the last group of students installed a radiant heat barrier in the attic of Don Edwards home which is in the process of being restored. We were able to work alongside many other volunteers from different schools and areas all across the nation.
Shyam Nair a first year MBA International Student comments: "Being an international student, I knew right when I signed up for it that NOLA was going to be a fabulous experience. Volunteering to help Katrina & Ike survivors at New Orleans was very fulfilling. The work was a lot of fun and it was great to be away from school in a different city altogether."
Rob Goris, a second year PharmD/MBA student remarks: "It has been an incredible experience taking part in the SOM's alternative spring break to New Orleans each of the past two years. It is admirable to send a check in support of a worthy cause, but being able to spend some of my free time helping those who really need it most was even more rewarding, and fun too! I can't think of a better way to have spent these last two spring breaks."
