More than 90 trees, a load of oyster shells and playground equipment from several Ball State University students were enough to make children in a shrimping town half a mile from the Gulf of Mexico smile during Spring Break.
But two architecture students don't plan to let their service work in Bayou La Batre, Ala., end there. The town suffered damaged following last year's Hurricane Katrina, and nine students in education, architecture and landscape architecture spent last week installing play equipment in a park that had become nothing more than a trash dump.
"Everyone is extremely excited," senior Karli Molter said. "The mayor thinks it's a blessing we're doing this. We've just had a really good response from everyone."
A group of nine architecture students led by senior Ivo Rozendaal first assessed the town last September, despite some reluctance from college professors and administrators regarding the independent student-led trip, Rozendaal said. His class debated on whether to travel to the eastern or western United States, but he said he thought the money would be better spent in the South. His proposal to the town's planning commission passed last November.
"I wanted to make sure it was a town that was going to receive less attention than others," said Rozendaal, who started the project with Molter. "It worked out that Bayou La Batre is where we went for our first trip, and it ended up meeting those qualifications that I had mentally set before we began the project."
While there, students helped demolish damaged homes and distributed goods. During the first week of January, 13 students returned to build one of four picnic shelters, as well as plant trees and shrubs donated by the Mobile First Church of the Nazarene. Water and power for the site and oyster shells to lay the site's main pedestrian path were also donated, Molter said.
During Spring Break, the group of nine installed two sets of playground equipment for toddlers to children age 12, as well as a swing set donated by KidStuff.
"Karli and I started this with no connections, no real experience with this size of a project and a lot of opposition," Rozendaal said. "We've accomplished so much."
The most challenging part of the design project was raising funds, with about $10,000 coming from businesses in Muncie, Lafayette and Alabama and $7,000 provided by the Mobile First Church of the Nazarene, Molter said.
Molter and Rozendaal, who will graduate in May and plan to go to graduate school, will add a second picnic shelter during the summer and make more changes during the next two years. Additions include a larger community pavilion, paved parking lot and half-sized basketball court.
"We're not just college kids with a goal," Rozendaal said. "We're handling this professionally. We're serious about getting this done, so I'm excited about what we have left to do."
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