Habitat work a good way to spend break

For many students, it is a time well-spent with friends in places much warmer than Happy Valley. For a specific 105 people, Spring Break is an opportunity to do something a little more -- go on a Habitat for Humanity workcamp, titled "Collegiate Challenge."

Penn State Habitat for Humanity is sending students to seven locations, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, to volunteer their time and energy building homes for low-income families in these areas. "Collegiate Challenge" is essentially building with hearts and hands.

Participating in an alternative spring break program is something I would encourage all students to investigate. You have the opportunity to go and see tangible results of your hard work, like raising a roof, insulating the inside of a home or even landscaping a yard to not only beautify the new home but the neighborhood as well.

You will interact with people who have endured hardships beyond what many of us cannot begin to imagine. In order to become a habitat homeowner, a person's current housing situation must be deemed "inadequate," which means that the housing is located in a dangerous neighborhood or that the housing is missing essential elements such as plumbing, insulation, running water or heat.

Holes in the exterior walls and roof are not uncommon. With "Collegiate Challenge," you are part of an immediate change; by giving one week of your time, you are going to drastically improve the standard of living for one or two families.

You cannot duplicate the emotion felt when a child first looks at his new room or when homeowners put the first nail into their new home. They will thank you so much for all you have given; yet you will return to State College with far more than when you left.

"Collegiate Challenge" is an experience that will not leave you when you leave -- it is something that continues to inspire participants both in their time at the University and in future times and communities. If you have not already made plans for spring break, write to us at cxs333@psu.edu. If you have already made plans, you can support us through our Spaghetti Dinner Thursday at State College Presbyterian Church, 132 W. Beaver Ave. Tickets will be on sale today and tomorrow on the ground floor of the HUB or at the door.

Penn State Habitat for Humanity

Dancer gives thanks to Thon participants

I would like to thank the morale committee people who would show up at random times like 4 a.m. and be full of cheer and rub butts, rub butts, rub butts. I would like to thank the woman who gave me a foot massage, I wish I could remember her name even though I told all my friends I wanted to marry her. I would like to thank my partner, that I did "marry."

I would like to thank the Office of Physical Plant committee people who walked around all night and day and cleaned up the floor. I would like to thank the communications committee people who had to be there for more than 20 hours. I would like to thank the man from Phi Delta Theta who talked to me while we were getting our legs iced. I was down for a while and you picked me back up.

I would like to thank security people. I know that my friends coming back from the bars must have been trouble, and I'm sure they weren't the only ones. An obvious thanks is to Todd Waltman, the overall chairman. We are in the same major, and I saw how much effort he put in by the number of classes he attended. I would like to thank the people working on entertainment for getting us bands that I can dance to, even though I show off that I'm not a good dancer. I would like to thank social and marketing for all the food that we ate and the presents that we received.

Special thanks goes to the top three money raisers, you guys are truly inspiration to us all. I know that once I send this I will say, "Doh, I forgot to thank those people." So, I apologize in advance. If I see you I will say thanks in person. Finally there is one more "little miss" that I would like to thank. You know who you are. You helped me get there and helped me get through it.

John Rifenberg
senior-health policy and administration

Problem with alcohol can be overcome

After the last day of classes in May, I watched some of us out that night pushing our limits with alcohol, as if wondering just how drunk a person could get before blacking out, or passing out or even dying.

I remembered students, just like those of us celebrating that night, who pushed their limits too far. I thought about Greg Martin, a senior in 1996 who was completing his final internship in Florida when he was found drowned in a pool with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. I thought of Leigh Prevatte, who died following an alcohol-related fall from a College Avenue apartment window last February. I thought of Bettinger.

I turned to my professor and toned down just a little bit, I said, "Yeah, it's a problem, but it's not a problem that Penn State students can't overcome."

Penn State students can stop alcohol- related deaths as long as we recognize that this is our problem -- not Penn State's, not University President Graham Spanier's. It's a problem that belongs to each person who chooses to drink alcohol and to each person who sees a fellow student pushing his or her limits. We need to learn to relax and enjoy ourselves with less alcohol. We need to learn to look out for each other. We need to learn to intervene when we see students drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol. And we need to learn to intervene now -- before we lose another classmate or another friend.

Lauren Jenks
Class of 1997