For the month of July 2006, 17 University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA) architecture and interior design students lived and worked on a studio project in the village of Norogachi in northern Mexico. Their goal was to learn about traditional architecture in the village of 700 in the Sierra Tarahumara and assist the Tarahumara Indians in building a new adobe brick school. The project was developed by the Mexican-North Research Network (MNRN) in partnership with Tarahumara elders and UTSA Professor Sue Ann Pemberton-Haugh. MNRN is a consortium of institutions that includes UTSA with the mission of promoting a more profound understanding of Mexico and the United States. MNRN has offices in Washington, D.C and Mexico City. The purpose is to build a school for 100 students using green practices. The school will also be a research center to accommodate botanists, anthropologists, and others who come to study Raramuri culture. The Ford Foundation has also contributed to this project and initially became involved in an education initiative to preserve Raramuri language and culture. The Tarahumara people will continue working on the school year around and next summer, like the last 3 summers, UTSA students will come back to the village to learn about the culture and lend a hand in building the school.