Notre Dame Students Empowering through Engineering Development (NDSEED) was formed in 2008 at the University of Notre Dame when six civil engineering students decided to combine their academic interests with their passion for service in support of their university’s mission. NDSEED formed a partnership with the non-profit organization Bridges to Prosperity (B2P) to empower a rural Honduran community with a footbridge in the summer of 2009.

 

The bridges NDSEED builds provide isolated communities with safe and reliable access to resources usually unavailable due to dangerously impassable rivers, such as health-clinics, markets, and schools. The team partners and works with in-country nonprofits and masons, further helping in our mission to build capacity.

 

Undergraduate students selected for NDSEED spend their academic year designing the bridge, fundraising about $90,000 to support travel and construction costs, and developing the entire construction and implementation plan. Then each May, eight NDSEED students spend eight weeks in-country executing the bridge construction alongside members of the community, fully immersing themselves with their new brothers and sisters.

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After 7 years of working with and building in numerous communities in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Eswatini, NDSEED transitioned to working in Bolivia. NDSEED remains committed to continuing its relationships with previous partners to ensure the evaluation and maintenance of its past bridges. To date, NDSEED has worked on 14 bridges in 5 countries under the leadership of 116 Notre Dame students.