Community Partnerships

Pleasant Hill Neighborhood

L.H. Williams Elementary School, the Pleasant Hill Community Garden, the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group, and Linwood Cemetery

Since 2004, the FYS/X and Senior Capstone classes under the leadership of Professor Randy Harshbarger have been involved with Pleasant Hill. Originally, their role was only that of manual laborers in cemetery clean-up projects. Gradually, as they became better acquainted with the people in the neighborhood, they began working on longer-term development projects, such as tutoring at L.H. Williams, working in the community garden, and participating in neighborhood discussions about the project to widen I-75 and strategic planning goals of the neighborhood. The purpose of all of these activities has been to educate students about the realities of life in a city neighborhood not far from the Mercer campus, to support ongoing, pre-existing activities of the neighborhood, and to foster friendship and solidarity between Mercer and the Pleasant Hill community.

Activities and Accomplishments in the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood

• The class has produced four publications over the past four years, including biographies of Pleasant Hill residents, descriptions of places in the neighborhood, and a brief history of the neighborhood.
• The group has tutored at L.H. Williams Elementary School for over 3,200 hours over the past four years. It is the opinion of school administrators that this tutoring assistance has been a factor in the school achieving Adequate Yearly Progress in each of those years.
• Students have contributed more than 640 hours to work in the Pleasant Hill Community Garden, planting, weeding, harvesting, removing debris, and painting signs for the garden.
• Students have contributed more than 1,000 hours to the ongoing clean-up efforts in Linwood Cemetery by the We Care Group and other interested Pleasant Hill residents.
  

For more information:

Pleasant Hill Community Garden

Get Involved in the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Projects

Any Mercer student is welcome to participate in any of these activities by contacting Randy Harshbarger at (478) 301-5640.

Faculty Contact

Randy Harshbarger
Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies
College of Liberal Arts
(478) 301-5640