Alternative Spring Break: Students
Shun Fun in the Sun for Community Service
By Ioana Patringenaru | March 27, 2006
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| Students Clayton Marshall and Carly Dye put together signs for a garden at a home for AIDS and HIV patients in Costa Rica. |
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One day during their spring break last year, a group of UCSD students and their advisor found themselves standing up in a Brazilian church while about 300 people showered them with applause. That week, they had made soup bowls for the homeless out of soda bottles. They had delivered meals to people who lived on the streets. They had worked with disabled children.
For many students, spring break is a chance to rest and party after studying hard for finals. But an increasing number of students at UCSD are bypassing these rituals. Instead, they dedicate their one-week vacation to community service.
“Often, when students come back, their whole world view is changed,” said Emily Marx, who advises a coalition of student groups that organize the trips.
The trips are known as alternative spring break – and they’re catching on. Four years ago, about 10 UCSD students took part; this year, about 100 did, Marx said.
One of the goals is to educate students, she said. Students meet weekly to learn about the country they will visit. They attend panel discussions. They also make presentations about their experiences when they get back. Another goal is to make sure students take part in meaningful community service projects.
SPRING BREAK DESTINATIONS:
Several UCSD organizations are organizing service trips this year. They include:
• SOLO: Lima, Peru with Cross Cultural Solutions
• SOLO and LEAD: Cartago, Costa Rica with Cross Cultural Solutions
• CORE, ERC: Russia with Cross Cultural Solutions
• CALPIRG: Katrina-affected areas during Winter and Spring Breaks with Common Ground
• Habitat for Humanity: Oregon
• Intervarsity Christian Fellowship: Mexico City, Cairo, China, Los Angeles
For more information:
E
-mail Alternative Spring Breaks at UCSD: altsprngbreak@yahoo.com |
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Last year, Clayton Marshall, a fourth-year student, worked in a home for AIDS and HIV patients in Costa Rica. This year, he is working in a Russian orphanage.
“I feel that I live a somewhat privileged life,” said Marshall, who is majoring in international studies and Spanish literature. “Just being able to give back is rewarding in itself.”
Marshall said a friend encouraged him to embark on these spring break adventures. He made travel arrangements for his group through Cross-Cultural Solutions, a nonprofit organization, which assigns volunteers to projects, and provides housing, meals and transportation. During their Russian trip, students will visit museums in Moscow, tour a few other cities and go to the symphony.
Meanwhile, Shannon Dulaney, a 19-year-old sophomore, worked with Common Ground, another volunteer nonprofit group, to organize a trip to New Orleans.
“Hurricane Katrina is the crisis for this generation of college students,” Dulaney said. “I just think that it’s so great that I have the opportunity to go.”
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| Students work to clean up flooded houses in New Orleans. |
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During a similar trip for winter break, students donned masks and special suits to help clean moldy homes. They ran a soup kitchen. They organized a protest against a landlord who was evicting his tenants in the French Quarter. Many students extended their stay and spent New Year’s Eve in the devastated city, Dulaney said.
“They absolutely loved it,” she said.
During their trip, some students write journals. When they come back, some also write letters to the donors that allowed them to travel. This is what student Pamela Rahn had to say about a 2003 trip to a Mexican orphanage in Tijuana:
“When I decided to come on this trip I wanted to make a difference, but little did I know the difference I was about to make involved my life as well.”
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