ALLENTOWN- A17-year-old resident wants to help other local youths have an alternative and meaningful spring break experience.
DougCalvitti, a student atBiotechnology High School in Freehold, is organizing a trip fromMarch 22-29 toMorehead,Ky., through CollegiateChallenge.CollegiateChallenge is a Habitat for Humanity program that provides studentswith an opportunity to build a house for someone in need during spring break.
“Habitat provides a chance for high school kids to go out and build houses during their break,” Doug said. Doug started researching Habitat for Humanity and similar programs approximately two years ago when as a member of Boy Scout Troop 180, he started traveling into Hightstown to do various rejuvenation projects along Airport Road.
His research led himto participating in a Collegiate Challenge project last year, during which he traveled to the Gulf Coast in Mississippi to help build homes for people who lost their livelihoods during Hurricane Katrina.
“It was really cool meeting new people, getting to build and helping out people,” he said. He continued, “The experiencemademe realize how bad it was there. This place where I was, was east of New Orleans but even worse because of Katrina. Along the whole coast on the beach, there was wreckage, downed trees, houses torn to shreds. Piers and boardwalk had been destroyed. Therewas nothing left but a fewodd pillars.”
SinceHabitat forHumanity requires the homeowners to help out with construction, Doug had the opportunity tomeet and work alongside the people whose lives had been ruined by the storm.
“One of the guys was telling about the day that the storm came through,” Doug said. “He was standing on the roof of his house with his wife, and the water- even though they were miles inland – was coming up towhere he was.”
Collegiate Challenge participants workMonday through Friday or Tuesday through Saturday. Students should expect to be working on the construction site from approximately 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on work days.
“It’s not like backbreaking work,” Doug said. “No one is going to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do. You do as much as you can.”
Asmuch as the trip is aboutmeeting new people in a new place and learning to improve building and leadership skills, it’s also a chance tomake a difference.
“It makes you feel better when you see that you have really helped someone,” Doug said. “You feel really good after you’ve spent a whole week finishing a project or part of a project.”
Doug said he reviewed a few different places before deciding on organizing a trip to Kentucky.
“We could have gone back to the Gulf Coast or to South Carolina, but Kentucky looked pretty cool because I had never been there and it’s a pretty impoverished part of the country,” Doug said.
Morehead is nestled in the foothills of the AppalachianMountains in theDanielBoone National Forest and by Cave Run Lake. The town is the home of the Kentucky Folk Art Center, dedicated to the skills of unschooled artisans, andMorehead State University.
Doug said that the people he contacted in Morehead were friendly and seemed grateful that otherswanted to helpwith their substandard housing situation.
To participate in the Collegiate Challenge, students must be at least 16 years of age. Chaperones are also needed
Participants must pay for their own flight and make a $100 donation to Habitat for Humanity. All food, supplies and accommodations will be supplied, according to Doug.
When asked why he thinks students should spend their spring break with the Collegiate Challenge, Doug said, “It’s great to listen to the people that you meet and to hear their life story, and it’s also really fun.”
He continued, “You’re building all day, doing something positive, but you’re also being with your friends and meeting new people that have come on the trip with you.”
For more information about joining the CollegiateChallenge, e-mail jcalvitti@optonline. net.