Daily Iowan

Issue date: 8/21/08 Section: Metro

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Maybe it was the break from the eight hours of course reading. Or maybe it was the bonding experience. Whichever the case, UI law and medical students showed up in droves to put the finishing touches on the Iowa City flood clean-up effort.

Approximately 200 first-year law students, upper-classmen volunteers, faculty, and staff participated in various service projects.

The cleanup was part of orientation week for law and medical students to reinforce the importance of community involvement in their future occupations.

John Newman, a first-year law student, preferred the hard labor to the reading and tests that accompanied orientation week.

He said the service project was important to him because it helped the community while boosting lawyers' images.

"I think a lot of community members have negative views of lawyers," he said. "So this is our chance to change that by showing we care."

Law-student projects included sandbag removal at the Iowa City Water Plant, landscaping on Normandy Drive, and trail restoration at Hickory Hill Park.

The law students were drenched in sweat within 15 minutes. But even the smothering heat and sand clouds didn't keep the students from working.

Sand leaked from bags as they were passed from person to person, leaving behind loose sand, which made up most of the 5-foot high, 100-foot wide wall. This caused even more back-breaking work as students dug for bags.

Approximately 150 medical students from Carver College of Medicine picked up where the law students left off, removing the last sandbags at the Iowa City plant by noon on Wednesday.

The focus then turned to cleaning Ralston Creek.

Carol Sweeting, public works volunteer coordinator, said she expected around two to three tons of trash to be retrieved from the creek.

At the cleanup location on Normandy Drive, students were armed with gloves, rakes, and garbage bags to assist Habitat for Humanity in leveling flood-affected yards.

Law students Emily Cooper and Laura Lunn retrieved pieces of mugs, makeup, books, and what looked like debris from houses.

Linda McGuire, a law-school associate dean, hopes that the project will spark an interest among the law students to volunteer more in the community.

"We are already working on making volunteer opportunities known throughout the year for our students," she said. "We tried to use the service day in orientation as a real motivator for students to see how good volunteering feels."

E-mail DI reporter Melissa Brownrigg at:

melissa-brownrigg@uiowa.edu

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