Tusculum College students spend spring break on service trip

In early March, students from Tusculum College along with other volunteers participated in an alternative spring break that included a focus on service, rather than surf time.

The students took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, where they rebuilt two houses, both of which suffered flood damage from more than a foot of water entering the homes during the devastating floods last fall.

The first day in Charleston began with a few memorable mishaps: a broken shower head, a collapsed ceiling and a water spill. However, this did not deter the students of Tusculum College who dived into their project on the first day when they met the family who would benefit from their service hours

The first home needed the bottom two feet of all the walls insulated and dry-walled, according to student West Conner, a senior from Alpharetta, Georgia, adding that the second home needed the interior primed and repainted.

“I can proudly say after a first day’s work, Ms. Amanda’s home was entirely insulated and mostly dry-walled, and Charles and Mary Joe’s home was entirely primed and ready to be painted,” said Conner.

On Tuesday, the group arrived ahead of schedule and immediately started working.

Haylee Reed, a junior, biology major from Winchester said, “The paint didn’t match the paint on the upper portion of the wall. It was only a shade darker, but it was just enough to be irritating. With the help of Ronda and Sarah, we made a straight line barrier around all the walls to mark where the new paint stopped. It actually turned out looking alright.”

Also accompanying the group was Tiffany Dearstone, student life coordinator at Tusculum.

At the end of the day, Reed said, “We still had a lot of work to do, but we were working quickly and efficiently. After dinner, we all sat around the table and talked about our favorite parts of the day.”

Christian Howard, a junior, special education major from Greeneville, said the group livened up on Wednesday morning as they pulled into the driveway to being another day at work.

Splitting into two groups, they began work on both homes. “The back house crew worked their hardest and finished dray-walling the entire house, besides a little left in the laundry room. The front house worked through the colors and smell of the new paint,” said Howard.

With more than half of the work finished, the students were rewarded with an evening of shopping in Charleston.

On Thursday, one group finished dry-walling the garage and continued touching up primer and painting Charles and Mary Joe’s home. Robert Nichols said, “Tiffany and Haylee went through the rooms that we had completed Wednesday and made sure that the paint was even and that there was none on the ceiling.

“When we got back, most of us went right to our cots and air mattresses and fell right asleep. All in all, it was a great day. We finished our tasks at the houses, and it felt good to have accomplished them.”

Friday morning found the group in high spirits, as they spent the day exploring and touring Charleston. Steven Hollingshead, a former Bonner Leader and a 2015 graduate of Tusculum College who joined the trip as a volunteer said, “The morning was wonderful, because we all knew we had completed a great amount of work this week with incredible precision and diligence, and we were excited about our day of fun in the sun.”

 

Front row standing from left to right is Rev. Dr. Ronda Gentry, Tiffany Dearstone, Tarah Helms, Haylee Reed, Steven Hollingshead and Briana "BW" Werder. Middle row, left to right, are Dennis Acquah, Morgan Jones, Mary Jo (the home owner, with Elsa the dog), Sarah Galentine, Deondra Thomas and Jalesa Perkins. Back row, left to right are Amanda (homeowner), Charles (homeowner), Robert Nichols, Kirai Kozak, Christian Howard, Rod (contractor), West Conner and Courtney Washburn.