Habitat House Well Calculated

   When I think of school projects, I think of my kids building the U.S. Capital out of little white plastic storage bins and half a Styrofoam ball. Or Baba Yaga's hut out of a corsage box and yellow pipe cleaners. I never think of kids actually building a real house.

   But some kids do just that and Shiloh High School has one under construction right now.

   Calculus teacher Janna Penn motivated over 80 young people to build a Habitat for Humanity house in the Norris Lake area in Southwest Gwinnett.
Shiloh teamed up with Arrow Lumber Company of Suwanee, whose owner, Donald Bosshardt, provided all the materials for the job.

   The students work on Saturdays and the day I visited the construction site, Penn's senior calculus students filled me in on why they were there.

   "My dad's a handyman and he taught me how to drywall and do all kinds of things around the house. I guess you could call it father-daughter bonding," said Melody Rhine. "This was a good way form me to practice the skills he taught me. I also wanted to get involved in the community and this seemed like an awesome way to do that."

   "I needed service hours for my Community Service Seal on my diploma, but I keep coming back because it's so much fun," said Laurel Bruggerman. "We learned how to roof, install a kitchen floor, put up drywall and mostly, to work as a team, especially when we're putting up a ceiling!"

   When I asked if they were using any of the calculus Ms. Penn taught them, Matt Pavlovich said, "No calculus, just some basic math."

   After joking around with calculus terms, they all insisted that I include that even though they're not using calculus for Habitat, that Ms. Penn is one awesome teacher. Shiloh Principal, Bill Kruskamp agrees. "We were looking for a way to do a little reach out, but I have to hand all the credit to Jenna."

   Penn passed the credit on to her students. "Kids really want to do community service, but they don't always know how to get involved on their own. All they need is an invitation and that's all I did, was invite them to participate."

   Not all of the students work on the job site. The National Honor Society, Shiloh Student Leadership Team and the Junior Class have provided lunch and moral support. Faculty members, their spouses and the PTSA have also come out to pound, plaster and paint, and provide food.

   On November 20 Shiloh High School and Arrow Lumber Company will dedicate their Habitat house to the memory of Bosshardt's wife Peggy, who passed away in 1999. 

   Penn's students may not think they used any of her calculus to build their Habitat house, but my summation is that she taught them they could function as an integral part of their community without limits.

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