The Gustavus Habitat for Humanity student Co-Presidents will lead the Fall Break Habitat for Humanity Work Trip to Virginia, MN over Reading Days, Oct. 19-23. Besides being the first completely student-led trip, it is also the first ever Fall Break trip.

The Habitat Co-Presidents are Senior Tristan Richards and Junior Megan Maricle-Roberts. They are hoping for a group of around 20 students. The group will find out what they will be doing when they arrive. Some students have been on Habitat for Humanity trips before, however, exerience is not required as the volunteers will be assigned jobs and educate about what they do when they get to the site.

“Most people have never touched a hammer,” Richards said.

The Habitat Board’s big focus this year is to be connected, meaningful and visible. “This trip fits with our goals because it is student led, we are doing more things in the community, and we are making people understand why we do what we do,” Richards said. “There’s a stereotype that the Spring Break Trip is all we do, and that’s not true.”

“We are trying to volunteer more in the local area and around Minnesota in general, because we have never done a trip in Minnesota. We’ve done builds, just not a trip. We are really, really excited. We’re also going to think about doing work weekends, besides just the big work trips,” Richards said.

Fall Break was a convenient opportunity for a new work trip, allowing students that have never been on a work trip the opportunity to go.

“I decided to sign up for the trip because I absolutely love what Habitat does. I have tried in the past to get involved but conflicts have prevented me from being able to go on the trips or volunteer on a regular basis due to my busy schedule, so it was the perfect opportunity,” Junior Psychological Science Major Andrea Rosenberg said.

“I am so extremely excited because I absolutely love donating my time to helping others and being able to do it for five days is absolutely wonderful! Also I think that being able to put in some intense physical labor only increases the feeling of truly helping someone out, so I can’t wait to get ‘down and dirty,’” Rosenberg said.

The idea for the Fall Break trip came from alumna Alina Stevenson ’12, who became involved with Habitat for Humanity during her senior year at Gustavus. “I attended a spring break work trip to Maryville, TN my senior year, and I fell in love with Habitat,” Stevenson said.

She now works as a Family Services AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer for North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity.

“The idea for the work trip actually came from a conversation with my dad; he asked if I was going to bring a group of Gusties up. I thought it was a great idea, and asked my boss if it could be done,” said Stevenson. “He agreed, so I sent an email to Dave Newell, who then forwarded it to Megan Maricle-Roberts and Tristan Richards. It has snowballed since then.”

Stevenson is in charge of organizing the trip, which entails communicating with the Gustavus Habitat Board, finding meals and a place for students to stay, talking to the construction manager to find worksites for them to work on, and finding recreational activities for the group to participate in on Sunday.

“So far things are going very well. We have a few meals already planned, a place for them to stay and a few activities planned for Sunday,” Stevenson said.

“Overall I’m just really happy to be able to help those who are less fortunate than I because it really makes me appreciate what I have, especially as a student here at Gustavus—it’s really easy to forget how lucky we are to have these four walls and easy access to showers and food and everything,” Rosenberg said.

“It’s always good to be brought back down to Earth. Additionally, I just can’t wait to meet some new Gusties and make some new friends,” Richards said.