Story and photos: UW-Green Bay’s Habitat trip to Abita Springs, La.

Abita Springs, La., is close to New Orleans but miles removed from being a tourist destination. That didn’t matter to 44 UW-Green Bay students who spent “an incredible week” helping to build homes for five deserving families as part of the Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge program. The Jan. 13-20 trip involved hard labor, unseasonably cool temperatures and plenty of mud and sticky red clay at the work site. Two-thirds of the student volunteers had little or no experience with building or carpentry work, but the end results were impressive. Check out the feature story.