Home Makeover: Watch UVA Darden Students Build Goodness While Developing Leadership Skills

Every year, University of Virginia Darden School of Business students descend upon residences throughout Charlottesville, Virginia, equipped with hammers and hardware, power tools and paint brushes, ready to renovate homes for area families in need.

While “Build Day” events provide students an opportunity to engage with the local community and volunteer, the student-run nonprofit that partners with the Building Goodness Foundation provides an even great opportunity. Darden’s Building Goodness in April (BGIA) club plans multiple home renovations each year, from the identification of homes in need of repair, to raising money to fund renovations, to securing supplies and labor for the projects. The massive undertaking allows BGIA members the chance to practice leadership and project management while putting their new business skills to work to improve the world.

“Leadership is really about being a servant of other people,” said Nate Valaik (Class of 2020), a Build Day house captain. “From our perspective as Darden students, it’s really important to reinforce that through this Build Day. We meet with a local community member, we perform acts of service, and that reminds us why we are going to business school — to make a difference in our communities wherever we happen to be planted.”

Watch Darden students renovate a local home and learn more about their Building Goodness initiative in the video above.