Spring Break
Service
Alternative Spring Break organizes students for trips that complete projects to aid disadvantaged in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana
By: Katy Ralston
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: News
|
Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a chapter of the national organization Breakaway, is a student organization that coordinates community service trips around the country in an effort to encourage students to become active citizens and agents for social change committed to social justice for the rest of their lives.
"The purpose of ASB is to increase participation and awareness in social issues and active citizenship," said the organization's student activities adviser Sarah Edwards.
ASB has four trips planned for this year encompassing a wide range of social issues. Each trip has undergone a detailed process and has been specifically chosen to provide the greatest benefit to the service agency as well as to the participants.
The eight-member executive team has spent the past year researching and contacting different agencies, charities and service organizations in the complex decision-making process.
"The team decides what social justice issues we want to focus on for the coming year, finds areas that would be ideal, and then votes on them," said ASB chairman James Philip, a junior biology major.
Once the trips have been chosen, the next step of the process requires extensive planning. The organization is entirely student-run and the executive team is responsible for finding housing for the duration of the trip, planning meals, securing transportation, designing applicant contracts, training site leaders and marketing the trips to students.
"Their persistence really impresses me," Edwards said. "Each year they work really hard to get it done."
The social justice issues chosen for this year are focused on helping the disabled, aiding the under-served and preserving nature and the environment, Philip said.
Trips include Project Lazarus in New Orleans, La.; Moody Nature Reserve in Southeast Ga.; Challenge Enterprises in Green Cove Spring, Fla.; and Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
Project Lazarus is a compassion organization founded to enhance the quality of life of people with AIDS who can no longer live independently and whose family is unable to care for them. The students on this trip will spend time with the patients and assist the facility with other labor needs.
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com