RYAN DOWNS
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

Any student will tell you that the best part of the second semester is, of course, the part without any school. It is a known fact that most of the country’s students have regarded Spring Break as an eagerly anticipated opportunity for surfing, sports and general relaxation. It is a week during which students can engage in far more activities than are usually available during winter and can enjoy a taste of what is yet to come over summer break, albeit at a more manageable temperature. However, at CSUSM’s own Univesity Village Apartments (UVA), not everyone went home for the break; as part of an alternative Spring Break program, a large group of students from the dorms volunteered to work with Habitat for Humanity, building homes in Miami, Florida.

These select few students worked long, hard hours, building houses for low-income families in the Miami area. According to Marcos Villanueva, one of the students who participated in the trip, “we’d wake up at 6 [a.m.], work from 7:30 [a.m.] to around 3:30 [p.m.].” The group worked on a different portion of the house each day. ‘”Sometimes we did dry wall, we did insulation, floor boards, a lot of different stuff,” James Sanchez, another student, said. “We didn’t finish any houses, but we prepared it [sic] for the blitz days,” Villanueva elaborated, “basically, we built the foundation, which took about four days, and Habitat [for Humanity] is going to swiftly finish the houses over the course of 10 days.” Overall, the group played a crucial part in helping Habitat for Humanity, creating houses for those who desperately need them. “It’s life-changing,” Sanchez said, “because it opens your eyes to new experiences and other problems that are going on this country.”

The experience, however, was not all work. “We went sight-seeing, we went to alligator swamps, and we went fanboating,” Sanchez said. Villanueva added, “Although we had to work a lot we needed some free time. We saw famous sites like “Miami Ink.”  One of the nights they had a party for the workers, just to say thanks.” In addition to giving back to the community, the group managed to have fun in Miami, making the experience that much more rewarding.  Overall, the group worked hard, but the payoff was great. They not only gave back to the community; they had a lot of fun in the process.