Dozens of Penn students plan to pass up Acapulco and Cancun over spring break to help rebuild New Orleans.
Various University groups -- including Alternate Spring Break, Hillel, the Newman Catholic Student Center and the Student Interfaith Council -- will sponsor trips in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity for about 70 students in total to build houses in devastated areas in New Orleans.
"Part of our mission is that students are learning and making a positive difference in the community that they're working in," Civic House Associate Director Alison LaLond said. Civic House is overseeing the Alternate Spring Break trip to New Orleans.
Fourteen Penn students will be going on the Alternate Spring Break trip and will be working with Habitat for Humanity from March 4 to 12. The group also offers trips to build homes in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona and New Mexico.
"We have one week to try to help build a house, and for the people down there, every little bit helps," Alternate Spring Break spokeswoman Yan Ling said. "It is very admirable of students to take their break to help out in New Orleans."
Ling, a Wharton junior, is planning to participate in the trip.
Demand for the Alternate Spring Break trip was very high, and, according to Ling, more than half of the at least 50 people who applied for one of the seven options selected the New Orleans trip as their first choice.
"The group is comprised of individuals who are really committed to making a change," Ling said.
The application to go on the trip included three short answer questions that were used to gauge the general level of interest of students, as well as prior community service experience.
In addition to spending most of the trip working on houses, students will get to talk to community leaders at night.
Two student site-leaders were designated for the trip to handle the budget and manage the week's work. These students were selected based on participation in past trips.
While each group will work on one house for the week that they are in New Orleans, many believe that the effect goes beyond a single house.
"This is not intended for us to try and rebuild New Orleans in a week. Relative to the impact of Katrina, it's not so much. But no one would expect that out of these students," LaLond said.
Ling said that she went with a similar program to Charleston, S.C., last year.
"You get to see the progression from an empty lot of land and you watch a house taking shape, and I think you can bring a lot back to the Penn community," Ling said.
However, Christina Aronhalt, development director at the Golden Empire Habitat for Humanity in California, believes that although the work of groups at schools like Penn is a step in the right direction, there is more that needs to be done.
"It's going to take many, many hands and a lot more [than one trip], but it is definitely one piece of the puzzle," Aronhalt said.
"We believe in what we're doing, and we're working diligently to solve this problem," she added.
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