UA Honors Students Arrive on Campus Early for Service-Learning Projects in Schools, Parks

Editor’s Notes:  Media are invited to see the Alabama Action students in ‘action’ during a media availability day at Hillcrest Middle School, 401 Hillcrest Road, Tuscaloosa 35405 on Thursday, Aug. 12, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Media are invited to see the Outdoor Action students at Perry Lakes Park on Wednesday morning, Aug. 11, at Snow’s Bend Farm on Thursday morning, Aug. 12, and at the UA Arboretum on Friday afternoon, Aug. 13. Contact Linda Hill in media relations at 205/348-8325 or Dr. Fran Oneal by cell 205/394-4214 for Outdoor Action directions.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – More than 150 University of Alabama Honors College students will be coming to campus during the week before classes begin to give back to the community by taking part in the service-learning projects Alabama Action and Outdoor Action from Sunday, Aug. 8-Friday, Aug. 13.

Some 108 UA honors students will be participating in Alabama Action, a program that combines service to the community with enriching academic sessions.

The 2010 program is the 10th annual Alabama Action project organized and carried out by UA honors students.

This year, the Alabama Action students will be working at Hillcrest Middle School (401 Hillcrest Road, Tuscaloosa 35405) and in a new pilot program with FocusFirst.

At Hillcrest Middle School, some 95 Alabama Action students will be working on service projects to improve the school facilities (painting murals, landscaping, renovating schoolrooms) and they will work in the classroom to mentor young students, participating in discussions and enrichment activities.

This year, the Honors College is partnering with the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility and 13 Alabama Action students will participate in an alternative service-learning project through the CESR’s FocusFirst program. These students will engage in all the activities of Alabama Action but instead of serving at the Tuscaloosa County school, they will perform vision assessments at pre-K centers throughout the state.

While the Alabama Action students are busy in a school setting, another group of honors students will be spending the week in the college’s Outdoor Action service-learning program.

Outdoor Action focuses on creating an awareness of environmental issues and allows students to make a contribution through an environmental service project. This year, that will be at Perry Lakes Park, located 50 miles from the UA campus near Marion. Some 41 honors freshmen and nine student leaders will work at the park to build a 40-ft. wooden bridge that will allow access to a new area of the park; they will also install benches and make a number of improvements to the park. This is the third year of focused effort by Outdoor Action students in Perry Lakes Park.

The Outdoor Action students will also participate in a canoe trip on the Sipsey River, a visit to a local organic farm and discussion with its operators, and a Hurricane Creek clean-up and mapping project.  One of the goals of the program is to demonstrate the correlation between biology, geography and environmental science with real conditions in the local environment. Hands-on field trips and activities are designed to correspond with the lectures and readings that the students also cover.

Outdoor Action received support this year from Tuscaloosa environmental firms PELA and TTL, as well as the Alabama Museum of Natural History and UA Outdoor Recreation.