If you were to hear that a college student defiantly overcame multiple delays and a canceled flight in order to reach her Spring Break destination by taking a greyhound bus across country at a personal cost of $144.26 and over 27 hours, you probably wouldn't be too surprised. After all, it is nigh impossible these days to separate college students from their weeklong Dionysian revelry this time of year.
But if I told you that her destination had nothing to do with sun, sand, surf, or partying, I know I would probably lose more than a few of you to overwhelming skepticism. Thankfully, students like Katherine Wasserman do exist, and her Spring Break destination wasn't Cancun or Florida, it was Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. The reason for her arduous trek was simple; she wanted to volunteer her time to work on the Cumberland Trail.
Katherine attends Hamilton College, a private liberal arts school located in Clinton, New York. Although she chose the road less traveled, Katherine wasn't alone in decision to forgo a week of partying in favor of community service. In total, 55 students from Hamilton College packed up and headed to six different areas here in the South as part of Alternative Spring Break (www.alternativebreaks.org), a nationally recognized service organization.
The Hamilton Action Volunteer Outreach Coalition, a student run community service council, sponsors Hamilton's Alternative Spring Break Program. The Alternative Spring Break Program began in 1993 when 20 students traveled to Miami to aid those who had the misfortune of being in the path of Hurricane Andrew. The following year participation in the ASB program at Hamilton doubled and each year has seen further growth in the program by civic-minded students.
Nine of the 55 students from Hamilton chose to work on the Cumberland Trail, which covers Rock, Possum, and Soddy gorges. Here in Cumberland County the Cumberland Trail includes a ten-mile stretch through the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area as well as trails on Black and Brady mountains. It took the students from Hamilton College fourteen hours by van to make their trek from New York to Tennessee, but they feel every second was worth it. Before their journey South, the Hamilton students didn't know each other as friends. So to get acquainted with one another and prepare them for their journey, the students undertook group community service projects and held fundraisers to defray the financial impact of the trip.
The student volunteers and the Cumberland Trail staff optimistically echoed each other on the opportunity to work together on the Trail. Mark Stanfill, coordinator of the Cumberland Trail Conference, located on 4th Street here in Crossville, said, "The work here isn't easy by any means, yet the students do quality work, usually consisting of over one mile of clearage a week on the 3ft. by 9ft. Trail." Meg Stringer, one of the Hamilton students said, "I take satisfaction in knowing that with just a little hard work and my own two hands and some tools I can affect a positive change in this world that will be appreciated every time another hiker's feet bring them past the segment of the trail we constructed."
To see the students working on the trail was an inspiring spectacle to say the least. Here were members of our nation's future pushing aside idle partying and actually sacrificing their time to contribute our American community. With pick axes, shovels, sweat, and jovial spirits the student volunteers hit the Trail at 7:30 each morning to turn raw wilderness into quality hiking trails, working diligently until 3 in the afternoon. In the short time I was on the trail, a marked progress was made to a previously unvisited waterfall that encompasses a natural beauty which my gift with words simply cannot do justice to. My job as a writer lends me the responsibility to express the voice of the public and in this case I feel that these students deserve a warm-hearted welcome from all of us. The Hamilton students put forth such effort to add to the beauty of our community without having any ties to it, and they should be honored, even if its just here in these pages. If you would like to appreciate the work these students have done or do some volunteer work on the Cumberland Trail yourself, please contact Mark Stanfill at the Cumberland Trail Conference at 931-456-6259 or visit their website at www.cumberlandtrail.org.
by Walter Beckelheimer
reprinted with permission of The Crossville Chronicle
