Collegiate Challenge 2005 - SJC to Statesboro, Georgia, March 5-13





A group of twelve SJC students and staff traveled for our annual Habitat for Humanity "Collegiate Challenge" Spring Break trip - this time to Statesboro, Georgia.  We left at midnight Saturday, March 5 with a blessing and prayer by Fr. Tim McFarland.  Thanks to Janna Oberg and Sodexho Dining Services who provided snacks and drinks for our trip in the van.




  Fourteen hours later we arrived in Statesboro and checked in at the W.W. Mann Retreat Center operated by the Southern Baptist Church.  Our cabin consisted of two bedrooms with bunks accommodating 12 persons each, along with a full-kitchen/dining room.








          



We began with a meeting Monday morning with the executive director and staff of Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County.  Students worked Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on two houses.  We finished framing the houses and two storage sheds, wrapped both in house wrap, and nearly completed the roof sheeting on both very steep 8:12 pitch roofs.  (Tuesday morning work was canceled due to high winds and a storm that had gone through the area.)







  


We visited the Raptor Center at Georgia Southern University and toured the Museum of National History (including a display on African Art).  Tuesday afternoon we visited the Habitat Home Store and also assisted at the Statesboro Boys' and Girls' Club by mentoring and supervising students in an after-school program.
Wednesday night a local Methodist Church invited us for dinner and we attended a concert and service by the Wesley Foundation.  On Friday night we were hosted at a potluck carry-in dinner and met one of the partner families whose house we had worked on during the week  Saturday morning we left for Savannah, Georgia and frolicked in the Atlantic Ocean off Tybee Island.  In the evening we enjoyed a ghost walk in Savannah.  We left Savannah at 4 a.m. CT Sunday, March 13 and arrived back on campus that evening. 







These students represented Saint Joseph's College very well and were a delight to work with on this trip.  They were up every morning at 6:30 a.m. CT and were on the job site by 7:30.  Trip participants:  Veronica Shook, Bob Block, Janet Hertz, Rachel Jarrard, Vanda Sullivan, Katy Rasco, Michelle Cimaroli, Megan Emerson, Megan Sutton, alumnus Stephen Kraemer, and faculty members Sally Nesselrode and Fred Berger.