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Latham native Colin Sponable spent much of his last semester as a civil engineering major at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C., working on the restoration of the Sacred Heart Church in Charleston.

Part of a required class for graduation, the project allowed students to work closely with engineers and contractors, developing a concrete plan for restoration of the church.

"We had to do some type of community service," said Colin, who's also an alumnus of Christian Brothers Academy in Albany. "This was half a project for us and half a community service project for them. It worked out well."

Colin has been pitching in at parishes since he became an altar server at Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Latham in the fourth grade. He continued until his freshman year of high school. He was also the youth group representative to the parish council.

"My two brothers and I did all of our Eagle Scout projects at Our Lady of the Assumption," Colin told The Evangelist. His project was building a prayer labyrinth near the church; it's still there.

Since its inception in 1920, Sacred Heart Church in Charleston has struggled financially. Budget cuts resulted in corners being cut in terms of maintenance, causing a series of problems for the stability and safety of the church.

Many of the necessary repairs deal with plumbing, electrical work and roofing, as well as the restoration of several stained glass windows. The parish has made significant progress: Sacred Heart is now the only Catholic Church in inner-city Charleston to be completely handicapped-accessible, with new bathroom facilities, entrance ramps and an automated entry system.

However, many more repairs are needed. At the start of the semester, Rev. Dennis Willey, pastor, gave a presentation to students at The Citadel, asking for their assistance.

Colin joined other engineering students in evaluating the building's condition. The students shadowed professionals in their field, who had volunteered their time, in order to get an estimate of restoration costs.

"We got this group of guys to volunteer a good amount of their time [by mentoring the students]. Now, we're in the process of raising money for the actual restoration," Colin told The Evangelist.

After reaching out to local parishes, Citadel alumni and community members, Colin asked parishioners back home for donations toward the restoration project, which the Citadel students estimated will cost more than $500,000. So far, the students have raised about $20,000.

Having just graduated from The Citadel, Colin will spend five months in Missouri, completing his engineer's officer's course; then he'll be stationed at the U.S. Army base at Fort Drum, N.Y., as part of the 10th Mountain Division, 1st Brigade combat team. He will be a combat engineer attached to an infantry unit.[[In-content Ad]]

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