GSP, Habitat Build a Future Together
By Carly Raymer
Edmonson County High School

Dust is flying, everyone is coughing, and temperatures are over 100 degrees.
McKenzi Belt, a rising senior at Paducah Tilghman High School, wipes the sweat off her forehead and smiles. She and 17 other high school students are hard at work building a house with volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.
Today they are bending metal for the roofing and installing wall insulation. Despite the uncomfortable conditions – a record-breaking heat wave baked the worksite on Louisville’s West End – positive attitudes reign. They were building a house for a deserving family.
McKenzi sums up her experience as “extremely rewarding and worthwhile.”
That is exactly the response that officials from the Governor’s Scholars Program were looking for when they decided to pursue a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. This year 360 scholars who were selected for a five-week residential program at Bellarmine University were also able to take part in a Habitat build.
GSP Executive Director Aristófanes Cedeño said he wanted to accomplish three goals by working on a Habitat house: To have all scholars working as a community on one public service project; to open the scholars’ eyes to a situation that can be used in the future; and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Governor’s Scholars Program with something great.
For the past six years, the faculty and staff of GSP have been talking about a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. About a year ago, they began to pursue it in earnest, opening discussions with Habitat.
During the planning sessions, GSP coordinators sensed some reluctance among the Habitat representatives. There were questions about the plan to complete a house in just four weeks instead of the usual Habitat timetable of 12 weeks. And Habitat prefers volunteers to be over 18 years of age and the scholars were 16 to 17. And finally, having 360 inexperienced volunteers working on one house presented organizational and safety issues.

McKenzi Belt and Julie Spaulding

Aris Cedeño insisted that the scholars were selected for the program because they had solid records not only in academics but in extracurricular and community activities.
“Over 20 years the scholars never change in the mind,” Aris said.
Habitat was convinced, and this unique partnership was in place on June 17, when the scholars arrived at Bellarmine. During the week before, GSP staff helped assemble wall sections off-site while Habitat prepped the worksite and poured the foundation.
When the first shift of about 20 scholars arrived at the site in GSP vans, Habitat Team Leader Chuck Sgro was waiting for them with hardhats, a safety lecture and detailed instructions for the day’s work. Chuck was a born leader, full of knowledge, good humor, and patience.
“My middle name is Job,” he said.
In the end, the house was built on time and up to Habitat’s quality standards. All the scholars were present at a dedication ceremony when the house was presented to Omar Muse and Ubah Adan, the hardworking parents of a young and growing family. Ubah is pregnant with their fifth child.
For scholar Alyssa Young, of Taylor County High School, it was an unforgettable moment.
“GSP has been a great experience,” she said, “to try new things, make friends and serve others.”
In the end, Chuck Sgro called this build, with 2,020 hours of work, 18 full workdays, and 360 teenagers on the worksite, “The biggest in Louisville, ever, ever, ever.”
So how did he manage to complete the house in just four weeks – a record time for Habitat – with hundreds of inexperienced scholars under foot?
“I have no idea,” he said with a smile.