In a few months, Macedonio and Berta Borjon and their four children will be able to move out of a tiny rented trailer and into a home of their own.

This is in part due to the work of some NIU students who chose to build houses for the less fortunate during Spring Break.

NIU Habitat for Humanity organized a trip to John’s Island, S.C., where 18 students made the 18-hour journey. Once there, they settled into a volunteer house and prepared for work the next day.

The students worked three eight-hour days and one four-hour day with Sea Island Habitat for Humanity. The sounds of pounding hammers resounded in Sea Island Place, an eventual community of 70 habitat homes.

“All of us got a really good chance to be productive on the build,” said Ashley Pearson, president of NIU Habitat for Humanity and a junior English major.

NIU students worked on a variety of projects.

Everyone helped construct the wooden frames of two houses and later cleaned the area in preparation for Sea Island’s 25th anniversary celebration. Some of the students cleared plots, built sheds, worked on pre-build kits, painted walls and helped with interior work.

Felicity Ippolito, a junior art education major, worked on a building for the first time on the trip.

“The most challenging part was making myself get out in the rain and move all those planks of wood to the dumpster; but I learned stuff I can use when I actually own a house,”she said

NIU students worked with students from other colleges, including Drew University in Madison, N.J., and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

The week’s work was part of the Collegiate Challenge. More than 400 students are expected to travel to all over the country to work with Sea Island Habitat for Humanity this year, the largest number ever to participate in the Collegiate Challenge.

Pricilla Svendsen, volunteer coordinator for Sea Island Habitat for Humanity, was pleased with the accomplishments of college students.

“One of my favorite things about my job is working with all the great volunteers,” she said. “There are a lot of families with terrible living conditions. The volunteers can really make a difference.”

Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical, non-profit Christian-based housing ministry that builds simple, affordable houses in partnership with motivated, low-income families. Although the organization is Christian, it welcomes all people to volunteer or to apply for housing.

Habitat families invest 500 volunteer hours of “sweat equity” and purchase their houses on no-interest 20-year mortgages.

Sea Island Habitat for Humanity is the third-oldest of more than 1,900 affiliates of Habitat of Humanity International. It has built more than 140 homes. More than 130,000 homes have been built worldwide.

For information on joining NIU Habitat for Humanity, call Ashley Pearson at 787-3712.