University of Idaho students waited eagerly outside the Idaho Commons Whitewater room Tuesday in anticipation of the second annual Spring Alternative Spring Break Registration Day.
Though the event began at 8 p.m., students were encouraged to arrive early and take a ticket to reserve their spot in line, as some of the more popular trips were anticipated to fill quickly.
Alex Brizee | Argonaut
Students sign up for an Alternative Service Break trip to Boise in the Whitewater Room of the Idaho Commons.
Monica Mills, a UI sophomore studying environmental science, sat with ticket in hand hopeful she”d be able to reserve a spot on the “Veterans and Vegetables: Growing Food and Preventing Isolation” ASB trip.
The trip will connect Vandals with a community partner at a mystery location, where they will work with veterans to decrease depression caused by isolation through agricultural projects.
Mills said she chose to do an ASB trip because she wanted to do something different with her spring break this year.
“Honestly I”d just be sitting at home playing video games with my dog if I didn”t go,” she said.
Mills said she thinks the trip will be good addition to her resume as well as an enriching experience.
“I like the idea of being involved in a community,” Mills said. “Whether or not it”s part of my future career, I want to continue to do volunteer work wherever I go, and I think this is a good way to start that.”
As the event began students lined up at each ASB trip”s representative table where trip leaders and faculty members provided information about the kind of service they would be doing.
Each trip was limited to 10 participants and several filled very quickly. Within minutes, the “Conquering Xenophobia through Refugee Integration” trip had filled and had several names on its waitlist.
“We knew that trip was of really high demand,” said Nicole Campbell, a staff member at the UI Career Center.
Campbell, who has led an ASB trip before, said she thought the registration event ran very smoothly this year. She said being a part of the program allows her to cultivate her understanding of the student population and apply that knowledge to her work at the Career Center.
“I think sometimes student will identify things from these trips that they might want to pursue as a career,” Campbell said, “Otherwise, it just gives them real life experience.”
UI Senior Nick Wren registered for the “Veterans and Vegetables” trip as well and said this year”s trip will be his second ASB experience.
Wren said he grew up in Lewiston and views ASB trips as an opportunity to see new things.
“I”m hoping to broaden my horizon, meet new people, and learn something that I didn”t know at the beginning of the trip,” Wren said.
He said compared to previous trips he been on, ASB trips provide a more valuable experience.
“I”m really excited about the service aspect of it, because while it is like a normal trip where you are inevitably going to meet new people and see new things, you”re getting something entirely different out of it,” Wren said.
Austin Maas can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @austindmaas