With sweat, grit and a large serving of love Brandeis University students are giving back to the city they call home.
So far this semester, about 200 students in eight classes have made community service part of their homework, trying to make a difference in other's lives.
In the college's Community Engaged Learning Program, students do a number of good works, from tutoring at the Boys & Girls Club to providing workshops to Spanish-speaking immigrant women.
One of the biggest projects students tackled this semester was an overhaul at the Prospect Hill Terrace public housing apartments.
Joining the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing and the Waltham Housing Authority, students from an anthropology of gender class spent four hours Oct. 14 sprucing up the Terrace.
Prospect Hill Terrace, build nearly 60 years ago to house returning servicemen, was badly in need of facelift, according to program academic director Mark Auslander.
"I think Prospect Hill for years and years has been a notorious pocket of poverty in Waltham," Auslander said. "They've been kind of isolated."
It wasn't just the students who were lending a hand.
According to Ellen Schattschneider, who teaches the anthropology class, several area businesses lent help or materials.
According to Schattschneider, Johnson Paint Co. on Warren Street and Nickerson & Hills Inc. and Waltham Wallpaper and Paint on Main Street provided paint supplies. Wagon Wheel Nursery of Lexington provided garden supplies and labor. Hannaford and Shaw's supermarkets donated food to feed hungry workers.
Students, staff members and tenants restored a vacant courtyard, which will now be used for meetings. Children, armed with brushes, and guided by the Brandeis students, helped paint a mural. They also planted a community garden.
And the college kids aren't done yet.
On Nov. 3 the anthropology of gender class will return to repaint the basketball court and reconnect with residents.
Margot Moinester, 20, a health science social and policy major, acts as a group leader in her class for the efforts at Prospect Hill. "It was a social activity to introduce Brandeis to the community at Prospect Hill and to develop a relation," she said.
Another student in the anthropology class, Laura Ligouri, 31, said it is heartwarming to see so many businesses get behind the effort. "I think this allows students a more personal involvement with the community," she said.
According to Schattschneider, the students and faculty hope to eventually help build a community center at Prospect Hill.
"There is a two-story space there that was just vacated by a day care center," she said. "We're very eager to make this happen."
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com.
