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For the seventh year in a row, some ��Ӱֱ�� State senior building trades: building construction students are heading south to put their skills to work helping those in need.

Accompanied by retired Building Trades Associate Professor Norm Ellis, the 14 Semester in the South students departed from ��Ӱֱ�� Friday for Scottsboro, AL, where they’ll spend six weeks working with the National Park Service at Russell Cave National Monument to convert ranger housing into classrooms to offer more educational opportunities. The next six weeks will be spent in New Orleans, where the ��Ӱֱ�� State group will once again partner with St. Anna’s Episcopal Church, working on renovating houses and small businesses, and repurposing a mansion built in 1846 into a school and arts center for the Treme neighborhood.

Participating students this year include Cullen Ball, of Lewiston; Vito Diorio, of Staten Island; Tom Guinta, of Livonia; John Kimmel, of Wayland; Francesca Mastrobattisto, of Baldwinsville; Dakota Matthie, of Madrid; Joe Miraglia, of Byron; Nathan Piegdon, of Elmira; Kyle Rosenzweig, of Webster; James Venticinque, of Rochester; Brian Williams, of Oswego; Robert Zaccaria, of White Plains; Ryan Reynolds, of Linwood; and David Stalker, of Walworth. The group is expected to return to ��Ӱֱ�� Nov. 19.

Education, Ellis said, is best when it can be described as an adventure, which is what the college is providing with Semester in the South in terms of new cultures, climates, people, work experiences, food, and traditions.

“I still get excited about that adventure and I know these students are going to look back to Semester in the South as one of the best adventures they ever had,” he said.

Diorio noted that he is looking forward to gaining real-life experience and assisting those in need.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to go down there and help out,” he said.

For Mastrobattisto, the opportunity to participate in Semester in the South is one she has been eagerly anticipating since she first came to ��Ӱֱ�� State for her college visit.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “I’m most looking forward to making connections, learning a lot, getting a sense of the different cultures, and just going down there to help because that’s the main reason we’re going.”