Having fun helping others

Summerlin student enjoys Habitat for Humanity efforts

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By LAURA TUCKER

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Sixteen-year-old Bishop Gorman High School junior Kristen Kelley spent part of her summer vacation in a different way than many of her peers.

From July 9 to 21, she helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity's 2006 Summer Youth Blitz in Tutwiler, Miss.

"You have direct contact and work with the actual recipients of the house. I think (Habitat for Humanity) is really unique," Kelley said.

The Summer Youth Blitz is specially designed for high school students ages 16 to 18. Sixteen teens, along with four supervisors, spend two weeks working on a house. The houses are then sold with a no-profit mortgage to a family in need.

"Being a Vegas girl and getting used to that wet heat, it was hard to keep a positive attitude," Kelley said.

Despite the heat and humidity, Kelley, a Summerlin resident, said her overall experience was a positive one. She and her group arrived at the work site each day at 7 a.m. and worked until late afternoon.

The recipients of the house, a married couple, worked side-by-side with the volunteers. Habitat for Humanity families must work 500 sweat equity hours on the house they will be living in.

Kelley's teammates hailed from all over -- California, New York, Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland, and even Romania. In the evenings, Kelley met with the group to discuss her experience on a dinner cruise.

"When you work with other people, you can achieve so much more than when you are working by yourself," she said.

What struck Kelley most about her experience was the atmosphere of a small southern town. She saw the locals bond at a potluck on the last day of the trip.

"(Tutwiler) had a strong, close-knit community. I think that's something people should strive for even here," she said.

Kelley said she first read about Habitat for Humanity in a magazine and has always wanted to volunteer with the organization. She filled out an application consisting of several essay questions, mainly about diversity, and was selected from a pool of a few hundred applicants from across the country.

Volunteers were responsible for airfare in addition to a room and board fee.

All Gorman students must complete 100 hours of community service before graduation, but Kelley said she didn't do the program for credit.

"I haven't told the school about it yet," she said. "It wasn't for that."

Kelley said she first began volunteering in seventh grade with her mother for the National Charity League.

An aspiring physician, Kelley volunteers with the University Medical Center Medical Explorers program. Medical Explorers sparked her interest in nonprofit groups, she said.

She also is a registered thespian, a member of the National Honor Society, serves as vice president of the Gorman speech and debate team and dances with the Nevada Ballet Theater.

On top of that, Kelley manages to stay at the top of her class as a straight-A student.

Kelley's mother, Trisha, said she is proud of her daughter for having the courage to travel halfway across the country to a place she had never been to before.

"She's a very smart girl. It doesn't surprise me at all that she would do something like this," her mother said.

She said she was nervous at first because the teens were not allowed cell phones on the trip.

"I heard from her every four to five days," she said. "She sounded happy, so it put my mind at ease."

Kristen Kelley said she hopes to participate in the Habitat for Humanity alumni program in the future.

"It was a really great experience, and I would like to do it again," she said.