New Leadership Rebuilding UA’s Campus Habitat for Humanity
After a rough transition in leadership, new members are working to improve the student organization.
January 29, 2020
Throughout its history, Campus Habitat for Humanity has participated in a variety of activities on and off campus to improve the surrounding community and get students involved with those improvements.
According to Dr. Carolyn Behrman, campus advisor for Campus Habitat, the student organization has been at The University of Akron for several years as an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity of Summit County.
Dr. Behrman said one year, members raised money by setting up boards during finals week and having students take their stress out by hammering nails.
Another year, Campus Habitat worked with another UA student organization to build and fill little libraries for local organizations in the Akron area.
“What I think that Habitat, as an organization, has done over the years on campus and out in the rest of the world is so powerfully important,” Dr. Behrman said.
Despite a rough leadership transition during the Fall 2019 semester, Campus Habitat is now working to rebuild itself as a student organization.
“This year, we had a real bumpy start because of a bobbled leadership transition,” Dr. Behrman said. “But the young woman who said she will step up and help, Lauren Lambert, is taking on the role of relaunching the leadership.”
Lambert, a junior marketing management major, first heard of Campus Habitat after a marketing internship with Habitat for Humanity of Summit County last summer.
At the time, Lambert was not aware it existed at UA and found the student organization had been deleted from RooConnect due to no members in leadership positions.
“When asked to be the President I said yes because I know all the good this Organization does within its community and the love they share with their community members,” Lambert said.
Taking charge in her position, Lambert hopes to spend this semester increasing awareness on campus and membership to prevent the student organization from being deleted from RooConnect again.
Students should get involved with Campus Habitat because they will find a community of others with a “heartfelt desire to do something useful, to do something good for the world,” Dr. Behrman said.
For more information on how to join the organization, students can email Dr. Behrman or Lambert. Students are also encouraged to connect with Campus Habitat through their RooConnect page.
“As an organization, I like what they model for our students and our campus,” Dr. Behrman said. “It’s a nice organization to join because you can do very little things and feel connected or you can do a lot.”