 Jim Van De Loo installs cabinets in House No. 11. Van De Loo will give a full EMB report to his classmates when he returns. click to enlarge More about the 1999 Easter Morning Build: Return to Friday's 1999 EMB Report Logistics Team Keeps Volunteers Fed, Happy "Social Butterfly" Lifts Crew at EMB Thank You, EMB Sponsors Earlier This Week: Monday | Tuesday Wednesday | Thursday 1998 Easter Morning Build |
Wisconsin College Students Revel in Easter Morning Build "Classroom"
AMERICUS, Georgia (April 2, 1999) -- For three students from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, education means much more than books and lectures. It's about life experience, too, and each has dispensed with classes this week in favor of building House No. 11 with homeowner Tammy Watts.
But the story doesn't end there.
Last week, the trio -- Jim Van De Loo, Matt Hendricks and Matt Grudzrelanek -- spent their spring break with 36 other Whitewater students building houses in Sumter, S.C.
While their friends returned north to resume classes Monday, Jim, Matt and Matt left the South Carolina work site Friday, drove the six hours to Americus and registered for EMB2 Friday night.
Their first workday was Saturday, and they've been on the job since.
"This has been just an unbelievable experience," Van De Loo said. "It's not that often that you find so many people so passionate about the same thing. There's so much to learn outside of class, and Habitat has already provided me with so many fulfilling experiences. I don't plan on just taking up space in this life. I plan on helping others, and Habitat's given me the perfect opportunity to do that."
Although Jim, Matt and Matt are "skipping" classes this week, they haven't neglected their academic responsibilities back in Wisconsin. Each cleared the trip with his professors and will make up missed work when he returns.
Jim said he's even expected to give full EMB reports to his classes. What's more, several faculty members contributed money toward the students' housebuilding.
"They've been really supportive," said Hendricks, "and some of them are active in the campus chapter. So they know what's going on.
"Being here at a blitz build is an amazing experience," he continued, almost shouting to compete with a nearby table saw. "I've learned so much through Habitat, and it's one of the things that keeps me going."
Grudzrelanek echoed his friend's enthusiasm of EMB2, saying "it's a chance to see the whole [construction] process all at once.
"We're usually just working on one part of it, the siding or the painting, but at a blitz, you see it on a much larger scale."
As graduation for the three friends looms ever closer, they agreed that this is just the beginning of their Habitat involvement. Each has been active with the Whitewater campus chapter, and each expects to work with Habitat well into the future.
"The great thing about Habitat," Van De Loo said, "is that there are so many ways to contribute, and I will always support it, whether through labor or money or by housing other volunteers -- or whatever."
As they return to the lecture halls Monday, they do so knowing that one more family has secured a decent place to live -- and for Jim, Matt and Matt, that's an "A" in any book.
Return to Friday's 1999 EMB Report
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