Jennifer Thao, student assistant for the School of Business at Conestoga’s Guelph campus, put her skills to work this past month when she organized a Habitat for Humanity volunteer project for herself and her peers as part of her work-study program.
With some help from faculty members, Thao visited classrooms and distributed both on-campus and electronic flyers to rally support for the project, which would give students the opportunity to support their community as they learned new skills and spent quality time with peers.
Thanks to Thao’s efforts, students from the office administration, business and general arts and science programs at the Guelph campus volunteered with the Wellington County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
On Saturday, March 3, a group of students helped to complete the main floor of a Guelph home by installing laminate flooring at the site. Steps of this process included laying underlay and measuring, cutting and laying flooring.
A group returned the following week to work on some of the finishing touches, painting doors, trim and baseboards to prepare them for installation.
Through the process, students exhibited the teamwork and organizational skills they’d practiced in the classroom, working out an assembly-line-style system and using open communication to get the work done efficiently.
According to Thao, the event was organized to help students get involved in the Guelph-Wellington community, as well as increase awareness of the School of Business programs available at Conestoga’s Guelph campus.
She described the student volunteers as excited and grateful for the opportunity for work that was hard but enjoyable.
Thao said, “This project is living proof that many hands make light work. Getting involved with Habitat was a great time and we accomplished a major task in just one day.”
Story by Elissa Den Hoed , second-year student in Conestoga's Print-Journalism program.