Isenberg students assist Habitat for
Humanity in Florida

17 enlist in alternative spring break

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

hen 17 Isenberg School of Management students headed to Miami in March, they knew they'd be doing more than hanging out at the beach. The students were participating in an alternative spring break program, sponsored by KPMG, LLP, one of the nation's largest accounting firms and an employer of many Isenberg graduates.
Two ISOM staffers, Kim Jones, student development coordinator, and Diversity in Management Education Services director Melvin Rodriguez, as well as two KPMG employees, recruiting manager Simon Kho and associate Karen Fine, accompanied the students.

     The group worked at a site containing nine Habitat for Humanity houses in a section of Miami called Overtown, which is heavily populated by Haitian immigrants. Each house was in different stage of completion, affording the volunteers the opportunity to work at a number of different tasks.

     "We were preparing for the roof trusses to go on," Jones said. "We were banging nails into cement, carrying materials from one house to another, using power tools to saw wood, and helping to create the porch columns.

     "It was the hardest physical labor any of us had ever done, and we were doing it in record heat."

     The crew arrived on the first Saturday night of spring break and worked Tuesday through Friday on the homes, so students had a chance to go to South Beach for some recreation during their first two days before donning their hardhats.

     The group spent the week sleeping on the floor of the Fulford United Methodist Church, cooking their own meals and sharing one shower and two bathrooms, Jones said.

     The ISOM team was one of several contingencies of college students working on the site. Other schools represented on the work site included Purdue University, the University of Minnesota and Trinity College in Hartford.

     "This is the second year that Isenberg has done this," Jones said. "Last year we went to Tennessee to work with Junior Achievement students."

     ISOM sophomore Laura Munro, who also is a member of Commonwealth College, planned the trip, coordinating plans with Habitat for Humanity International representatives in Miami, establishing a budget, and organizing fund-raising activities to support the trip.

     "The students all felt a true sense of accomplishment as they watched a house they had worked on all week move to the next step of construction," Jones said. "Everyone left knowing their sweat and labor will have an impact on the community in which they worked."