Features

Throughout the construction week, Bauer had witnessed an abundance of good will. "Normally you get a plumber and an electrician in the same room, and they can't agree what time of day it is, let alone what needs to be done," he says. "But they helped each other out." Likewise, he saw personality conflicts ease among his own staff. When it was over, the company didn't get back to normal; it was better than normal. These "construction guys," who would never go for a touchy-feely retreat, had—in seven days of nonstop work—experienced the ultimate team-building exercise.

As for the UNH students, they never met a star or even saw a TV camera—but in the end, it didn't matter. They, too, had bonded through the process of overcoming logistical and bureaucratic hurdles to make the trip and reveled in the camaraderie once they got there. They also achieved the academic goals of the course, which, as a freshman Inquiry seminar, helps students become "active, independent thinkers who explore subjects and ideas from a number of viewpoints" through the multidisciplinary study of a complex social issue. Although they agreed to disagree on the question of whether the project qualified as an example of active citizenship, they still heard each other out.

Mercedes Dones '13, who loves "the drama, the screaming and yelling" of reality TV, credits Freid with "opening our eyes" to a different point of view. She also noticed a disconnect between the episode and the reality she saw on the muddy ground in Lyme. "The show wasn't about the community whatsoever," she says. Freid, on the other hand, was impressed to learn that ABC had garnered tens of thousands of dollars for Be Positive.

When the students watched "their" episode of the show at instructor Vilmarie Sanchez's home in November, they squished together on sofas and the floor like old friends. They were amused to see the bulk of the construction conveyed through rapid-fire time-lapse segments: as volunteers in blue shirts and white hardhats ran jerkily about, the house seemed almost to be building itself. "They fast-forwarded over us!" someone joked. Still, they took pride in seeing the lights and kitchen counters they'd helped install. They were also moved by the Marshall family. "What we did is affecting that child and maybe saving his life," says Sales—and that's enough to qualify as "permanent change" for him.

At the climactic moment of the show, the students leaned forward. Pennington, standing with the Marshalls and a crowd behind a large bus, went into full cheerleader mode. The crowd on the TV show and students in the living room chanted with him: "Move that bus! Move that bus! Bus driver, move that bus!!" The bus wheels started to turn as if by dint of the sheer force of will of thousands of volunteers and millions of viewers around the world. The bus moved. And the family wept, screamed and hugged at the sight of their brand-new home. ~

 Easy to print version