5 Awesome Alternative Spring Break Options

Rather than heading for a beach or relaxing during a week, college students are increasingly using their breaks to assist people and communities in need through alternative spring breaks.

Many colleges and universities offer alternative spring programs, allowing students to volunteer a week of service to a specific cause. Students may help build houses for community organizations, or may care for and teach children in underserved communities. They may even lend support to environmental causes.

Most trips are usually structured around social issues such as poverty, health, or culture.

“Alternative breaks changed the course of my college career pretty dramatically,” said Kat Phillips, a junior at the College of William & Mary who helps organize alternative breaks for the school as a student director.

She described alternative breaks as a national movement, creating “active citizens” with deep understanding of social problems and how to address them.

Alternative breaks have greatly influenced her thinking on what makes good public service leaders and a public service career. She was even changed her major in college to sociology after her first alternative break focusing on rural education inequality in Gaston, N.C.

“I became so fascinated with the power of social movements and how awesome it is that people who take part in them go on to shape popular opinion and public policy.”

For the first step in your alternative break journey, consider the options below and ask your school’s office of student life/involvement if it has an alternative break program.

Break Away universities and colleges: More than 100 colleges are part of Break Away, which seeks to develop “lifelong active citizenship through quality alternative break programs.” If your school is a Break Away member, than its alternative break program is mostly likely well thought out and structured, with a goal of participants becoming “more educated and experienced in all sides of a social issue. Upon return, they will be empowered to make more informed decisions and take meaningful action that supports a greater good.” Alternative breaks at Break Away schools are alcohol and drug free, and may be regional, national or international, with trip options and procedures varying from school to school.

United Way: This leading national charity has been sponsoring domestic, one week alternative spring breaks for more than seven years. The trips typically involve working with children or building projects in communities with high poverty or those that have experienced natural disasters.
As United Way puts it, “nearly 2,500 students have traded in their swim suits for tool belts.” Trips in 2013 include Biloxi, Miss., Tucson, Ariz., El Paso, Texas and Newark, N.J.  Trip prices, excluding airfare, range from $150 to $350.

i to i: Billing itself as the “original volunteer travel company,” i to i was founded 18 years ago and says that alternative spring breaks help build a resume and “are an interesting alternative to binge drinking on the beach that could see you making a real difference to the world we live in.”
One-week trips for 2013 spring break include home building in poverty stricken counties, working to protect endangered turtles and community work with children. Destinations for 2013 include Costa Rica, Kenya and Vietnam, with trip prices from approximately $949 to $1,349, excluding airfare.

Projects Abroad: Arranges volunteer projects across the globe. One week alternative spring breaks in March 2013 include Culture and Community in Morocco, Building in Jamaica, (child) Care in Jamaica, (child) Care in Costa Rica and Conservation in Mexico. Trip costs range from approximately $1,900 to $2,500.

Habitat for Humanity: One of the leading charities in the world that battles substandard housing, Habitat for Humanity sponsors Collegiate Challenge. This program has alternative breaks trips during spring, summer and winter. Students travel to numerous domestic locations and help build and repair homes. No construction training is needed, and the group reported that more than 10,000 students participated in Collegiate Challenge in 2011. Trip destinations and prices vary. The group promises that you will improve your skills, connect with new people in a new place, put your faith into action and help eliminate substandard housing.

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Logan Harper works in Community Relations for UNC-Chapel Hill’s online MPA program and leadership development program. Outside of work, Logan enjoys watching documentaries, exploring museums, and traveling as often as possible. Connect with him on Twitter @harperlogan.