While most Boston University students will spend their summers working a part-time job, interning or lazing in the sun, College of Arts Sciences senior Jake Curtis is not an average student.
Curtis and 29 other college students will spend more than two months biking from Providence, R.I., to Seattle to further the charity organization Bike and Build's goal of ending poverty housing. Each summer, 210 bikers embark on seven cross-country routes, giving presentations on the nation's affordable housing problem, granting money to small organizations and occasionally constructing homes.
"I'm excited because we don't bike the days we build houses. It's sort of our day off," Ashley Hoesing, a CAS sophomore, said. "I've never done anything like it before. Especially now with the economy the way it is, I'm pretty excited that I can help those less fortunate."
Since its 2002 inception, Bike and Build has raised more than $1 million for affordable housing organizations across the country, according to its website.
Bike and Build gathers funds from the riders themselves, who must raise $4,000 to qualify for the program. Although riders said they found it challenging to fit fundraising into their schedules, Curtis and Hoesing said they have benefited from fundraising because it has pushed them to make contacts with outdoor organizations, including EMS, backcountry.com and International Bikes.
"That part of the donation process was very nice because it forced me to get in touch with family I haven't spoken with in years," Curtis said. "First I was stressed out because I didn't know how it was going to go, but now I'm well over the halfway mark so I don't worry about it as much as other things like school."
Curtis and Hoesing said they've been going to the Fitness and Recreation Center three to four times a week to build their endurance by using elliptical machines and stationary bikes. Because of New England's harsh winter weather, they said it has been a while since they've mounted their bicycles.
"It's going to be beautiful, but now I'm terrified of the mountains," Hoesing said. "I hear the Appalachians are the worst . . .We're going through Nebraska for a few days, and that's the state I'm looking forward to the least because it's flat and goes on forever and there are cornfields everywhere."
Curtis and Hoesing said Bike and Build also requires a minimum of six hours of building training before June. Curtis, who is an Eagle Scout, and Hoesing who volunteers 10 hours a week for Brigham and Women's Hospital, said they are not intimidated by the volunteer work.
While the riders said they are looking forward to dedicating the summers to helping others, they are also excited to make a cross-country trip fueled solely by manpower.
"I think of it as I'm going to be working for 40 years of my life," Curtis said. "What's another few months to do something like this?"
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