Cadets give up spring break to build homes

  • Published
  • By John Van Winkle
  • Air Force Academy Public Affairs
SANTA FE, N.M., (AFPN) --  Pick-axes, sawdust and hammers were the dominant spring break memories for 20 Air Force Academy cadets last week in Santa Fe, N.M. 

The 20 are part of a group of cadets who've given up their spring breaks to build homes for needy families in Santa Fe, N.M.; Cody, Wyoming; Beaumont, Texas; and El Paso, Texas. 

Cadets are able to volunteer to join Alternative Spring Break via the Cadet Service Learning program. It is sponsored by the Academy's Center for Character Development and Association of Graduates, and administered on-site by Habitat for Humanity. 

"Alternative Spring Break is an extension of Cadet Service Learning, a program within the Center for Character Development," said Maj. Eric Ecklund, director of the Cadet Service Learning Program. 

"This year, 65 cadets are volunteering their spring breaks to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. Alternative Spring Break provides a unique opportunity for cadets to serve others and make a tangible gift to needy families. 

"These cadets are sacrificing their vacations to provide a home to a family in need," Major Ecklund said. 

The Santa Fe group was split for part of the week, with a dozen cadets working on Habitat for Humanity's traditional house-building tasks to build the Causus family a new home in the Oshaga Village development on Santa Fe's south side. Tuesday saw cadets finishing up roofing and framing, and putting in some insulation. 

"With the help of your cadets, we'll start wiring on Wednesday, along with hanging drywall and putting in the exterior doors," said Richard Miller, director of construction at Santa Fe's Habitat for Humanity chapter. 

"The other cadets are over on Jaguar Drive, putting in a fence and doing grating work at a previous construction site," he said. 

Those fencing and grating work on Santa Fe's west side gave cadets pick-axes, shovels and concrete to get the fence fixed and level a yard in the dusty and rocky Santa Fe soil. 

Even swinging a pick-axe is still a break from the Academy routine, said Cadet 2nd Class Grant Smith of Cadet Squadron 22. 

"I'm here because doing community service is big back at the Academy, and Alternative Spring Break is a real easy opportunity to do it and get a break from the routine," Cadet Smith said. 

"So despite the fact that we're working during spring break, we're meeting good people, and getting a chance to help out, so it's worth it." 

"I've done Habitat for Humanity projects in high school and it's such a great program, so I had to do this," said Cadet 4th Class Aimee Hammon of Cadet Squadron 26. 

But unlike traditional college students, cadets can't entirely leave their service academy behind on spring break. With an average course-load of 18 semester hours, cadets can't afford to let all their textbooks gather dust during spring break.

"I must admit that I brought a chemistry book with me to study, because I have a graded review when I get back," said the freshman cadet from Mount Union, Penn. 

For her fellow alternative spring breaker, Cadet 3rd Class Christina Wamsley, her class to study for is in behavioral sciences. But the test she has looming upon her return to the Academy isn't enough to stop her continued work with Habitat for Humanity. 

"This was an opportunity to help out, and I've never been to New Mexico before, so I get to visit a new place and help out and get a break from the Academy," said Cadet Wamsley, of Cadet Squadron 10. 

The sophomore cadet was been involved with Habitat for Humanity since she was a student at Troy High School back in Fullerton, Calif. But in high school, she wasn't old enough to work at a job site and was only able to do fund-raising. This week, she got her first taste of working on a job site. 

Alternative Spring Break is the most visible of the community service projects cadets undertake each academic year, but it's only a fraction of total cadet volunteer efforts. During the 2006-2007 academic year, 4,100 cadets collectively volunteered 27,000 hours of community service on 1,900 different projects. 

The Academy has participated in Alternative Spring Break for the past eight years.

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