Hands-on learning and service projects associated with The McWhorter School of Building Science date back over 25 years. In recent years, the addition of the Alison & Jim Gorrie Service Learning Gift and the establishment of the BSCI Robins & Morton Field Lab have allowed Building Science to add classes that are dedicated to service learning. These service learning classes allow students to participate in local service projects (Auburn/Opelika/Lee County), disaster relief in the Southeast and international service-learning classes (Quito, Ecuador).
Service learning allows students to improve their construction management skills while engaging with the community by serving others.
The Building Science curriculum emphasizes the importance of Service Learning by incorporating a required local Service Learning class and the option to engage in both national and international elective courses. In the local Service Learning class, BSCI 4360 Construction Field Lab, students conduct a service learning project to integrate all components of the construction process. This class involves hands-on construction work, meeting the local communities’ needs, client relations, site safety planning, cost estimating, scheduling and oral presentations. Both the national and international Service Learning opportunities are presented in the form of electives. Travel-based national Service Learning opportunities are primarily focused on Disaster Relief, while students who participate in international Service Learning trips (study abroad) are immersed in the culture and introduced to the tools, technology and methods of the area.
Building Science will provide a Service Learning experience in which students will participate in an organized, hands-on, construction service project that meets identified community needs and reflects on the service activity in such a way as to gain a broader appreciation of the Built Environment, and an enhanced sense of serving others and civic responsibility.
The McWhorter School of Building Science is creating a culture of Service Learning within the school and planting the seeds of service to others that will carry into their professional careers and personal lives.
