thePULSEBy Rachel Bryson-Brockmann
Hear the words “spring break” and “college students” and you probably envision the beer-soaked, MTV-style image of Girls Gone Wild. While many college students will opt for the traditional spring break experience come March 2008, some have chosen an alternative. For the fourth year in a row, students from Becker College are uniting with Habitat for Humanity to help build homes for families in need.
Becker got involved in the Fall of 2004 after students in Becker’s Community Service Club became interested in participating in the Collegiate Challenge Alternative Spring Break Program with Habitat for Humanity. “The students wanted to go away for spring break for next to nothing,” says Thomas Cooley, Director of Student Services and the Advisor for the Community Service Club at Becker. “The students were community service club members who like to help others. This opportunity served both needs.”
The trip was a success, and the group from Becker has grown each year since: this March, 27 students and 3 chaperones will travel to Mechanicsville, VA.
Collegiate Challenge, which started in 1989, is now the most successful “alternative spring break” program in the United States. It is a week-long program that is open to groups of five or more students from youth groups, high schools, and colleges. The groups work on different construction sites, helping to build homes. Each group is assigned a different stage of a project, ranging from building the foundation of the house to decorating it.
“Last year we worked on a total of three different sites,” says Kelly Rossitto, a senior at Becker who went on the trip last year and is a student leader for this year’s trip. “One site was a house specifically made for mentally and physically challenged people. It used to be a day school, but we turned it into actual living space for these people with special needs, making the whole house wheelchair accessible.”
The groups are certainly kept busy, working from 8am to 5pm every day. “Last year we did a little of everything,” says Jean Blackmer, who went on the trip and is the Director of Student Activities at Becker. “We cleaned up yards, shingled roofs, put up sheetrock, built a shed, re-did a floor, and did some landscaping, demolition, and painting.”
The families for whom these groups build houses are always grateful. “Many families are on a waiting list for Habitat to help them get a house, but there are a lot of things that they must do in order to qualify,” says Kelly. “The families each have to complete something like 200-300 community service hours in order to be a prospect. This lets us know that we’re giving out time and effort to someone who will truly be grateful in the end.”
So why are these students choosing this alternate spring break over the traditional? “I overheard some of my friends talking about how much fun they had when they went to work on houses during their spring break,” says Kelly. “I’ve been on plenty of vacations, so I figured why not give some of my time to someone else.” Meg O’Rourke, another student leader for this year’s trip ~ and also a senior at Becker ~ says that she’s always been interested in joining a group like this. “I have chosen to take this time to go to the alternative spring break because I think it is the best use of time and it is so beneficial; I truly believe there isn’t anything better that I or the group could be doing.” Plus, the evenings are always free for the groups, leaving time for some fun activities ~ bowling, visiting the local ice cream shop, going out to dinner at a steakhouse, and running activities at the church where the group is staying.
Visit the Habitat for Humanity website to learn about how you could become involved! After all, isn’t a spring break spent building homes for the needy more gratifying than one you probably wouldn’t remember most of anyway?
