MUNCIE, Ind. -- Forty-five Ball State University students will spend spring break learning leadership and teamwork skills while aiding an impoverished parish in Louisiana.

During the week of March 8-13, Habitat for Humanity's Ball State Campus Chapter will help build low-income housing in Covington, La., located north of New Orleans in St. Tammany Parish off the Gulf of Mexico.

Many homes in the parish have been condemned for failing to meet codes, and the St. Tammany West Habitat for Humanity affiliate has 10 new homes under construction. The students' work will help St. Tammany prepare for a Habitat/AmeriCorps Buildathon scheduled for May.

The project will also prepare the students for life.

"It gives us a chance to stop looking at ourselves for a while and look at others, to create a balance between self and others," said junior Adam Thies, chair of Ball State's Habitat chapter. He is an urban planning major from Fort Wayne.

"Our goal is to give something back to the community, to be an asset and not a liability," Thies said. "The benefits are positive for both parties involved."

Participating students come from a variety of disciplines, but the leadership, teamwork and cooperation experience they gain will be useful in any field, said Ball State Habitat adviser Scott Truex, an urban planning professor and national Habitat/AmeriCorps training coordinator.

That "service-learning" will also benefit the Habitat chapter's plans for activities in Muncie.

"We would like to come back with some enthusiasm and skills to build and sponsor a house locally this fall," Truex said. "The spring break trips are important for our group to create momentum and build excitement."

In Covington, the Ball State group plans to start a house as a trial run for the May Buildathon, which will involve six houses and more than 150 Habitat/AmeriCorps volunteers that Truex is helping coordinate from around the country.

"We'll learn what the pitfalls are and how it works so when we do the six we'll have an idea of what to expect," Truex said. "With any Habitat project you have to go with the flow in terms of the weather, logistics, timing and other factors."

The students will face significant weather-related challenges. El Nino has combined with low-lying, swampy land and a high water table to create a soggy environment that has hindered construction in Louisiana, Truex noted.

Participants will work in interchangeable crews and teams. Some students will do construction work, while many others will help backstage by organizing activities, supplying materials, preparing meals and meeting the group's other needs.

Like past Ball State Habitat trips, the Louisiana project will let students explore a different culture, this time in the Deep South, Truex said. They will visit New Orleans on their way to and from the work week and stay in a youth summer camp facility in Covington during the project.

Other fall break and spring break trips have included work in Hurricane Hugo-ravaged Sumter, S.C., plus Baltimore's Sandtown district, Cleveland, Texas and Maryland.

"You get life experience with real situations," Thies said. "Our goal for these trips is fun with education and service."