Housing staff donates time to Northside Elementary SchoolANN ARBOR—It wasn’t recess, but a group of bundled elementary school children in their schoolyard braved the winter’s cold to watch University of Michigan chef Gary Marquardt carve a giant book out of ice.

Although Marquardt, a chef at Alice Lloyd Residence Hall, is the only U-M staff member to sculpt ice for the students at Ann Arbor’s Northside Elementary School, he is just one of the many University Housing staff who take time from their workday to volunteer at Northside as a part of the Ann Arbor school district’s “Partners for Excellence” program.

“The goal of the program is to provide a healthy learning environment for the children of the Ann Arbor school district by bringing higher education and community resources directly and personally into the schools,” says Patricia Griffin, program coordinator for the Family Housing Division. This particular partnership is especially fitting, “as many of the children attending Northside live in the family housing maintained by the University Housing,” adds Griffin.

The partnership between U-M Housing and Northside Elementary began in 1996, when Griffin was approached by a representative from the Ann Arbor public schools. She agreed to find volunteers to participate in the “Partner’s for Excellence” program, and be the housing facilitator.

The initial partnership was so successful that both the teachers and the volunteers requested to be paired again. Many have made arrangements with teachers to work on an individual basis with one student needing special help with reading, or on class projects. Other activities that proved to be popular include cooking mushrooms for the classrooms that are studying mushroom growth, and playing floor hockey with the children before school.

The success of the housing staff volunteer effort is partially due to the support from the University Housing, because “all of the trips that the staff members make come with paid release time,” says Griffin. In addition, volunteering has the flexibility to allow the staff to schedule visits around their work schedules. “The housing staff feels energized,” says Griffin, “from the good feelings of volunteering and knowing that the kids really appreciate them.”

University Housing is only one of several U-M units that participates in the program. The Business School, School of Nursing and U-M Hospitals all volunteer with the Ann Arbor schools.

For more information, contact Patricia Griffin at (734) 764-0507 or [email protected]

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