While some students spent their Winter Break with loved ones, other students chose to use their break to volunteer on Alternative Service Breaks through the Center for Volunteerism and Social Action at UI. “Each trip focuses on social justice issues and it (what students are doing for volunteer work) can vary based on where you are.” ASB coordinator Audra Borden said.
Locations of Alternative Service trips vary from year to year, but over the 2012 Winter Break students went to Peru, Ecuador, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
“I decided to go on this trip because I wanted to be a part of an amazing experience with fellow U of I students. You are able to connect with other people on a deeper level when you are together in a different country, especially when you are sharing an experience based on service,” Marissa Moreschini, a student leader for the Ecuador trip, said.
Examples of some of the projects students volunteered with were volunteer jobs in cheese and marmalade factories and assisted in repainting a daycare. Students in Peru volunteered at an after-school daycare for kids.
“We worked at an after school program for kids in a really small town, so we got to know the kids really well,” Borden, who was a student leader of the Peru trip, said. “At first they were a little shy but in the days later on, two hours before the after school program began, they would be lining up outside the gate wanting us to come out and play.”
The tentative list for the 12 Alternative Service Break destinations for this upcoming Spring Break includes cities in Idaho, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, Louisiana and New Jersey. Some of the trips will feature environmentalism volunteer opportunities which have not been previously offered.
“I would definitely recommend students taking a service trip over Winter or Spring break. ASBs are amazing opportunities for students to learn the value of service and also work on personal growth. It helps students also gain awareness to the world outside their immediate community and how they can make a difference in it.” Moreschini said.
The application for the Spring 2013 ASB trips were due Jan. 11 but students can contact the Center for Volunteerism and Social Action in the Commons for other volunteer opportunities.
Aleya Ericson can be reached at [email protected].