Greetings from Birmingham, Alabama, where I’m spending Spring Break building houses with Habitat for Humanity as part of the Spring 2009 Honors Colloquium! In class, we studied the roots of poverty and its alleviation, and now we’re in Alabama expanding our knowledge and making a difference! Not only have I gotten a great deal of practice using a hammer, acquired practical construction vocabulary, and gained sea legs atop a roof, but I have also quickly learned that shingling and insulating actually can be FUN! This experience has taught me that perfect strangers—URI students, community volunteers, and recipient families—can become a closely-knit team while working together for a cause that is infinitely larger than one’s individual needs and desires. I feel fortunate to have been a part of this eye-opening and fulfilling trip, and I can’t wait to see y’all back in Kingston!

Meg Frost is an honors student majoring in political science and Spanish. Pictured with her is fellow honors student Jessica Adefusika ’10, a pre-med (biological sciences) major.