Louisiana Tech has long been revered for its commitment to experiential learning — ensuring 12,000-plus students get out of the classroom for hands-on experiences that will prepare them for life and career success. That commitment applies broadly across approximately 135 degree programs, including architecture and nursing.
Built on sincerity, care, trust, and a desire to make things better for all involved through meaningful work and learning, Louisiana Tech’s partnership with MedCamps of Louisiana continues to grow, improve, expand, and make a positive difference for students, for campers, and for the community.
It began in 2014 when Tech Architecture’s Design/Build Studio class created a pavilion for MedCamps, a nonprofit organization that provides free fun-filled camps for children facing disabilities and chronic illness. The free camps provide campers opportunities to canoe, fish, swim, horseback ride, and all other traditional camping activities at Camp Alabama in Choudrant, close to the Tech campus.
After the pavilion came an archery range. Then a boat launch. A zip line. A bridge. An art cabin. Most recently, a field house.
Each of the ten projects, so far, were designed and built by Tech’s students with help from both instructors and community donations. With regularity, the designs have won national awards while competing against professional architects and companies.
“Recognition from beyond the typical academic arenas is always a treat,” said Tech Associate Professor Brad Deal, “It really helps to justify the colossal effort, sacrifice, and trust from everyone that comes together to make these projects possible, but awards aren’t the goal. We’ve found we’re most successful when our aim is to teach our students to approach their work with passion and purpose.”
“Our steadfast mission as leaders of Design/Build is two-fold,” Tech Associate Professor Robert Brooks said. “We work to provide real-world tangible educational experiences for our students and to use our talents as architects and professors to increase the potential for joy for our clients — children with chronic illnesses and disabilities.”
Now the University’s award-winning nursing program has begun spreading joy in its own partnership with MedCamps.
In the summer of 2017, the middle of her 20th year of nursing, Tech Associate Professor Dr. Sarah McVay had just finished helping with a week at MedCamps when, in the exhaustion and gratification of the experience, she wondered how she could share this with her students.
A quick and focused effort followed to make that idea a reality. In 2019, about 20 campers and twice that many nursing students shared the first 72-hour Heroes with Heart Retreat, a unique clinical opportunity.
“It’s my little piece of heaven I get to share with students,” McVay said. “I need patients; serving them fulfills my purpose. After this weekend, so many of our students are impacted in the same way. This weekend brings them back to the original reason they wanted to become a nurse. They feel it when they see the result on Sunday when the camper comes back to the parents and our students see the refreshed parents, but they also feel the payoff of the hard work they’ve enjoyed, caring for a child with multiple needs and seeing what that child needs to be successful.”
“Hands-on experience is the number one way for you to know if you have a true desire for that profession,” said Tech School of Design Associate Professor Whitney Causey, whose daughter M’Lynn has Angelman syndrome and was a Heroes with Heart camper in November.
While the students gain new perspectives and skills, “that weekend benefits the children because it brings them back to a place where they can be fully themselves without apologies or anything,” Causey said. “People accept them, and they have the most amazing time.”
“Heroes With Heart was a pivotal moment that solidified my aspirations to become a nurse,” said Santana Lane, a Winter 2025 graduate from Covington. “It reaffirmed my passion for helping others in a meaningful, hands-on way.”
“That weekend surpassed every expectation I had,” senior Ella Grieder of Shreveport said. “It gave me the chance to grow — not just as a nurse, but also to reconnect with the passion that had led me to nursing in the first place.”
Whether through award-winning architectural projects or life-changing clinical experiences, Louisiana Tech’s partnership with MedCamps continues to exemplify the power of experiential learning. As students build structures and provide care, they are also building purpose, empathy, and expertise that will shape their futures — and the futures of those they serve.