By Brittany Berrens
University Relations student writer

University of Wisconsin-Superior students are bringing Superior's history back to life with a semester-long Academic Service-Learning project.

Dr. Kathy Hubbard's two-dimensional art class teamed up with Beth Grbavcich's college writing class to help the Douglas County Historical Society create an exhibit that showcases the historical buildings of Tower Avenue in Superior.

The 10 students from the writing class chose a building to research that is a part of Superior's past and present. They then paired up with two art students, who created a number of drawings and paintings that featured the building in some way. The paintings ranged from surrealistic to realistic.

Grbavcich says the buildings are more than bricks and stone -- They have stories to tell.

"These buildings aren't just structures. They're places people have worked; they're places people have lived," she said.

Researching the each building's history was no easy task. The writing students spent many hours sleuthing through building deeds at the court house, boxes of documents at the Historical Society and rolls of microfiche at the Superior Public Library. Some students interviewed  the building owners to find out more information. Kathy Laakso, director of the Douglas County Historical Society, said many of the buildings' histories were unknown to the organization.

"You can't Google your local history. This is research from the ground up," she said.

Using first-hand sources is exactly what Grbavcich wanted her class to do. She adopted the project for her class partly because she saw many students write papers without looking beyond the Internet for research.

"Every assignment students do can be done on a computer," Grbavcich said. "They may literally sit in a seat for four hours and write a paper never learning anything other than what the Internet is telling them. There's a lot more to discover."

For the students, working together with classmates to get the projects done was challenging sometimes, but for Nicole Bedard, who's majoring in art therapy, the hard work was worth it.

"As frustrating and stressful as it was at times, it feels good to be doing something for the community," she said.

The artwork and stories will be on display at the Douglas County Historical Society. The students' work is part of a larger exhibit that will show what downtown Superior was like in its heyday.

"Instead of doing a bunch of paintings that sit in a closet, they will be on display," Bedard said. "It will help me jump over that hurdle of having my first art show."

UW-Superior's Center for Academic Service-Learning coordinated the project. Academic service-learning is an innovative teaching strategy that provides students with opportunities to deepen their knowledge and learn new skills by matching academic goals to the needs of community organizations or small businesses. Students apply concepts and skills they learn in the classroom and give that knowledge back to the community.

"Students learn by doing work with other people, so much more than if they read a book and take a test," Hubbard said.

Not only are the students helping the community, but they're learning about it as well.

"Students can live here through their school years without learning about the community," Laakso said. "Superior has quite an amazing past."