By Gillian Vesely
For The Diamondback
Senior Hailey Jones is no stranger to community service — she has gone on three Alternative Breaks trips and is spending her spring break on a service trip, and after she graduates in May, she’ll be biking more than 4,000 miles to help build affordable housing.
Jones, a bioengineering major, will be traveling from Connecticut to California over the course of about 10 weeks as part of Bike & Build, a Philadelphia-based organization dedicated to creating affordable housing in areas all over the country.
“Since I’m graduating and I’m an engineer, you don’t really get to incorporate those kinds of things into your professional career,” she said. “It’s kind of my last chance to do a big service trip, which I’m really excited about.”
The ride takes off from New Haven, Connecticut, on May 30, and the riders will make their way through 16 states before arriving at Half Moon Bay, California, on Aug. 14.
The route Jones is taking designates 15 days of the trip as build days, during which riders will spend their time constructing affordable homes in various states along the way. The team will spend the rest of the trip biking 30 to 116 miles per day, with an added four days off, said Matt Hartman, the director of outreach and alumni relations at Bike & Build.
There are currently 32 riders registered, and the team cap is set at 34 people, Hartman said.
“We really put a lot of emphasis on the experience that the young people go through, and how people relate to communities around the country and to each other while they’re on the road,” he said.
Riding her bike for a long journey isn’t completely new for Jones — she’s been a member of the University of Maryland’s club triathlon team since her freshman year and has been working on training for it. Although she has never participated in a ride of this caliber before, she said she was inspired by her passion for community service and seeing teammates complete similar rides.
So far in preparing for the trip, Jones has raised more than $1,520 of her $4,500 fundraising goal through projects on social media. One of her campaigns that ran throughout February revolved around naming her bike; for $1, contributors could cast a vote for what to call her bike.
John Bachkosky, her roommate and one of her teammates on the club triathlon team, said it’s no surprise Jones is taking on this ride.
“It fits in well with what she already does,” said Bachkosky, a junior aerospace engineering major. “She likes to help people. She likes to make a difference, and I think this is a great opportunity for her to do so.”
Jones said she would like to explore the states she has never been to along the journey and to get to do so from the point of view of riding a bike.
Exploring how affordable housing varies between each state she passes through also interests her, she said.
“I know that affordable housing in rural areas versus urban areas can look really different, and they have different challenges,” she said. “I’m excited to learn more about that.”
