Culverhouse program means student experience and community boost
The Culverhouse LIFT program gets its name by providing community learning, initiative, and financial training through the Culverhouse College of Business dean’s office and The Culverhouse School of Accountancy. The LIFT program is most commonly offered for accounting students in the Honors College. It allows students to gain job experience while providing adults and teens of West Alabama with the resources to attain a better education.
In one of the LIFT programs, the students from The University of Alabama had the opportunity to go to Central High School in Tuscaloosa and tutor students who were struggling in academics.
Gracie Hussey, a senior at The University of Alabama, participated in the LIFT program with Central High School and said, “It was a great experience being able to see how the kids progressed over the weeks working with them and see how much stronger their reading skills got to be.”
Not only is this experience beneficial for college students, but it also leaves such a tremendous impact on the local school children with which they work. Another version of the program works with people in elderly homes.
Another current senior at The University of Alabama, Ryland Edwards, said, “I did the LIFT lab that helped elderly people learn more computer skills. We met every week and worked on things like Microsoft, email and much more.”
Since technology is rapidly growing and becoming more of a necessity, older individuals need to learn how to maneuver it independently. Having a program like LIFT allows them to learn new skill sets for free.
The program has also acted as an incentive for potential participants to apply to the Honors College. Hussey said, “I was hesitant to join the Honors College because of the workload, but when I discovered that it included this opportunity to serve others in our community, I was no longer on the fence about it and applied immediately.”
