October 2005 ISSUE
features
U of A Students Donate Their Brawn
to Habitat for Humanity
 |
The Perfect Cut |
The University of Alberta Engineering Students’ Society has raised the roof — well, actually the walls — of a fiveplex on the north side of Edmonton for Habitat for Humanity.
The ESS students helped build five decent dwellings for low-income families. The 6,250-square-foot unit will shelter 17 children and their parents. It will be completed in December and be ready for occupancy early in 2006.
Habitat is a non-profit, ecumenical, Christian housing ministry to help people in need.
This is the first time ESS has contributed volunteer hours rather than cash
to this worthwhile cause.
Says Graeme Wicentowich, ESS vice-president of finance and operations: “It
was an opportunity to apply engineering skills to a good cause and to provide
students with a sense of community
nvolvement.” Laughing, the third-year mechanical student adds, “It’s also an opportunity to present a more positive image of engineers.”
An unanticipated payoff for the students was the oppor-tunity to interact and learn from alumni. “There were old graduates from mechanical and civil working on site as project managers. It was fun to learn from the prior generations and to hear how their careers turned out,” says Graeme.
APEGGA Life Member Horst Depner, P.Eng., an electrical grad from 1966, served as project manager for the site, working with the architects and securing the building permits. But on building day, he was happy to leave the shop and join the ESS student team under a sunny August sky.
On sabbatical, Dennis Hartlieb, P.Eng., a mechanical grad from 1995, got involved with Habitat in March and is the full-time coordinator of the construction. Between jobs and about to open a business on his own, he found the Habitat project provided a welcome furlough.
During his 13-year career with Public Works Canada, 1962 mechanical grad and APEGGA Life Member Keith Stagg, P.Eng., did company-sponsored community service with Habitat. Now retired, he continues as a way to keep occupied.
The mix of engineering alumni and students kidded the local Realtors who also volunteered on site. There was some friendly professional rivalry as the drywall was mounted.
Will ESS participate next year? “You bet,” says Graeme, “although next year we want to get the word out to students earlier, before the end of classes, so we get greater participation.”
Shoulder to shoulder, engineering grads and students are building stable homes for children to grow. Who knows? Perhaps one of those children will one day be influenced to pursue engineering. For the ESS, that would be a worthy legacy.