While some students will party away their Spring Break in Cancun this March, others will restore homes, work with international refugees and immerse themselves in communities across North America through trips offered by Alternative Student Breaks.
ASB board members announced the locations of their 16 Spring Break trips Tuesday night. The trips provide volunteer opportunities in cities, from as close as South Bend, Ind., to as far as Jalpatec, Mexico.
“I’m really excited just to see this year’s trips have many more great issues than they did last year,” said Medill senior Rachel Stults, ASB Coordinator. “Our executive board worked really hard to find new and innovative trips.”
The trip options include volunteering excursions to Florida, where students will help restoration efforts on islands along the coast near Jacksonville; and to Tahlequah, Okla., where students will help in education, health and employment development at a Cherokee reservation.
For the first time, ASB will allow any NU students to apply to go to Jalpatec, Mexico, where they will volunteer at an eco-friendly organic farm and learn about food sustainability. In the past, only students who took an ASB class during Winter Quarter could participate in an international trip.
“(The trip to Mexico) is something different this year because we’ve never allowed anyone to head outside the country before,” said Weinberg sophomore Paul Overmyer, campus outreach coordinator. “It sounds way cool because (the group) is allowed to go out in the wilderness for a while.”
Approximately 60 students attended the information session — more than half of whom had never taken an ASB trip. Before announcing this year’s destinations, ASB members shared photos and stories about their experiences on other trips.
“There seems to be a very diverse selection and (the locations) all sound good,” said Weinberg freshman Jennifer Tsau, a student at the information session. “I am interested in the trip to help the Cherokees because of the cultural immersion. It would be great to experience something totally different.”
ASB members said their group offers students unique opportunities both to travel and to volunteer around the continent during school breaks.
“With ASB, students get to go trek around the country with other students,” Overmyer said. “It’s a good time — guaranteed.”
After going on the trips, students perform community service in a local spots similar to the the volunteering sites that they visited during their trips.
“We hope that students (who go on the trip) come back to Chicago and apply their experiences from the trip by volunteering locally and on campus,” Stults said.
Applications are due on January 31 at 5 p.m. and can be found at www.groups.northwestern.edu/asb.
Reach Allan Madrid at [email protected].
