Waubonsee students prepare to volunteer over spring break

A group of Waubonsee Community College students will spend their upcoming spring break volunteering in Tennessee as part of the national Alternative Spring Break effort. The group of 10 students travel to Dayton on Sunday, March 13, where they will help build a portion of an ambitious, 300-mile Cumberland Trail extending from the Cumberland Gap National Park in Kentucky to the Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park, just outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The remote, backcountry trail will wind through 11 Tennessee counties, primarily on public lands managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and Wildlife Resource Agency. So far, 200 miles of the trail have been constructed and maintained. Project organizers hope to complete the project within the next four years, which is why college students from across the country are spending their spring breaks volunteering to participate in trail building and maintenance.

During the week, students also will participate in educational opportunities about the environment, history, geology, flora and fauna along the trail. Waubonsee students will spend one free day touring Nashville.

The Waubonsee students will be accompanied by Meg Junk, Waubonsee Student Life Specialist. This is the first time Waubonsee is participating in Alternative Spring Break. She explained that in addition to coordinating multiple fundraising events, students also paid $150 out of pocket to fund the trip.

"It's been very inspiring to watch our students get more excited each week as they prepare for this trip," Junk said. "I'm very proud of the group we have representing Waubonsee's first Alternative Spring Break trip."

The students are keeping a blog, asbwaubonsee.wordpress.com, tracking their fundraising efforts and preparations, and will continue to log reports about their experiences daily during the trip.

Students participating in Waubonsee Alternative Spring Break are: Jordan Wright, Matthew Frantik, and Hailey Edwards, all of Oswego; Taylor Hughes and Joseph Zubek, both of Yorkville; Morelia Delgado and Carlos Diego, both of Aurora; Claudia Resendiz of Sandwich; and Alyssa Toma of Sycamore.