Leech Lake students build home for elders through service learning program

April 26, 2008

Leech Lake Reservation — About a dozen students have been working for months on a modest, two-bedroom house that sits on blocks at the edge of the Leech Lake Tribal College campus.

The students started construction last fall, and now they’re nearing the end, putting on siding and installing doors and woodwork inside.

What’s special about the project is these students are building the house for their elders. By June, the house will be trucked north to the neighboring Red Lake Indian Reservation, where there’s a severe housing shortage…

…Creating that team concept is one of the goals of the program. Catherine Day, director of Minnesota Campus Compact, a non-profit group that administers the program, says connecting those teams to a community service project makes learning more relevant.