As the prospect of the ever-daunting “real world” looms over the senior class, this job market’s slim pickings have inspired some seniors to jump on their 10-speeds and trade hedge funds for hard hats.
While some of us have only worn tool-belts as accessories for our Village People Halloween costumes, the do-gooders among us have already taken many an opportunity to make us look lame, rebuilding the world through Habitat for Humanity and Alternate Spring Break programs. The next level of hard-core humanitarianism? Bike & Build.
The summer-long program has some graduating Quakers packing their hammers and spandex and heading to one of Bike & Build’s starting points on the East Coast. Bikers make their way across the country on one of eight routes (from Boston to Santa Barbara, for example), heading westward to cut through U.S. towns that are in need of sprucing up (to put it mildly).
The trips offer the chance to stretch those hammies — the cycling reaches 70 miles a day. Bikers stop about once a week to dedicate their time to various volunteer housing projects, all in the hopes of combatting the nation’s dearth of affordable housing.
From May to August, cyclers put our unpaid internships to shame, building tons of houses and plenty of stamina, as well as gaining life experiences that are nowhere to be found inside a cubicle. Take that, OCR. Know friends on the trip? Bike & Build’s website allows you to track any rider on any route by the click of a mouse, at www.bikeandbuild.org.
