Spring Break. A term that is synonymous with parties and warm weather. It’s a chance for students to get away and forget about school for a week. A chance for them to blow off a little steam and de-stress. But not all college students flock to beaches and endless, crazy nights. Some go on an alternative break and focus on community service.
The Alternative Breaks program at UW provides unique opportunities where students
can address local and global issues through direct service and education. Furthermore,
Alternative Breaks provides an outlet for students to develop leadership skills and
a commitment to service, promoting future leaders.
Alternative Spring Break trips are drug and alcohol free, which applies to all applicants, even those over the age of 21. At no time, nor under any circumstance, are participants, team leaders, or staff members permitted to consume alcohol or any other substance while participating in an Alternative Breaks program.
Every year, the Alternative Breaks program offers both domestic and international opportunities for students. This year’s domestic trips included urban development in Los Angeles, California; social development in Seattle, Washington; animal wellness in Kanab, Utah; and environmental sustainability in Moab, Utah.
International trips included community development in Puerto Rico, community development and education in Jamaica, and community development and women’s development with environmental focus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Victoria VanHorn and Austin Buckius traveled to Seattle for their Alternative Spring Break and had the opportunity to work with Pike’s Place Senior Center, Pike’s Place Food bank, and the Campus Housing Alliance, whose mission is to help the homeless in the city. Victoria and Austin were involved with cleaning the shelters, making and serving meals, and speaking with the homeless.
For Victoria, who is a sophomore majoring in secondary education in English, this was her second Alternative Spring Break trip, and she plans on taking more. Her favorite part of the trip was meeting an employee at the Pike’s Place Food Bank, who she looked up to and learned a lot from.
“I kind of have a heart for service,” says Victoria. “I’ve always been really involved with community service and helping others, and I figured this was a wonderful opportunity to not only travel someplace new but to also help out the world a little bit.”
This was Austin’s first Alternative Spring Break trip. He is a freshman majoring in history, and he had been to Seattle once before, but this gave him the opportunity to see the city again. One of the highlights of the trip for him was meeting a client at one of the day shelters and having him tour Austin around.
Austin looks forward to going on another Alternative Spring Break trip, and if anyone is considering it, he says, “They should go for it. It’s easy to get money for—there’s scholarships and fundraising. You make some great friends. Some of my best friends up here were on that trip, and I didn’t know them before the fact.”
He continues, “Then, you just feel good because not only were you helping people out but you learn a lot about another group of people. You get to see things from a different perspective. It help you grow a lot as a person.”
Heather Baker and Maggie Huss took international spring break trips. Heather went
to Puerto Rico, and Maggie headed to Trinidad and Tobago.
Heather is a freshman majoring in accounting and Spanish, and she helped plant trees to reforest wetlands that had been razed for resorts, she worked in a book warehouse cataloging and preparing books to be sent to impoverished parts of Puerto Rico and Africa, and she helped fix homes for people who were being evicted for small reasons because the mayor wished to build another resort.
“It changed my life,” explains Heather. “I switched to accounting and Spanish after I went to Puerto Rico because I want to go back and teach English there as soon as I graduate. I love it so much. The volunteering experience was the best one I’ve had, and I’ve been volunteering since I was young.”
In Trinidad and Tobago, Maggie worked with communities to beautify towns to attract more tourism. They painted murals, built benches, and weeded areas. She had the opportunity to walk through a fruit estate, which, she explains, is nothing like an estate in the U.S., but a large field surrounded by various fruits, and had the opportunity to taste the fresh crops.
“I really like to do service projects,” says Maggie. “And I like to go overseas, but I haven’t seen that side of it that’s so local and you’re just completely in the local culture.”
Maggie is a freshman majoring in international studies, political science, and French. Like the others, she can’t wait to go on another Alternative Spring Break trip, but since she’s spending part of next year in France, she’s thinking about going on a domestic trip.
Participation in the Alternative Spring Breaks program is on a first come, first serve sign-up basis. The cost of the trip covers all transportation costs, food, lodging, and service activities. Other costs, such as free-day activities, tourist activities, and souvenirs are the responsibility of the participant.
Alternative Spring Breaks attempts to make each trip as affordable as possible. They work with students to take part in both individual and group fundraising. Scholarships are available through the Service, Leadership, and Community Engagement (SLCE) Office, ASUW, the generous gift of Rocky Mountain Power for domestic and international trips, and International Programs for international trips.
These four students all applied for and received scholarships to go on these amazing and life-changing trips—and they encourage other students to do the same. They enjoyed the opportunity to see different parts of the U.S. and the world, and the Alternative Spring Break program allowed them to grow as students and leaders and gave them the skills they’ll need to make and impact on the world.
