While some Northwestern students will return to their home communities this winter break, others will help struggling communities.
Alternative Student Breaks is preparing to embark on another set of community service expeditions this winter break. According to the organization’s Web site, the “student-run, service-learning organization” has been sending Northwestern students across the country and overseas since 1994. Most trips take place during winter breaks and spring breaks, though a new program offers pre-orientation trips for incoming freshmen.
The Winter Break trip spans the first week of vacation and is sending groups to eight different locations this year, including one international trip to the Dominican Republic, said Aaron Gale, a Weinberg senior and an ASB site development coordinator.
Gale will be a leader this winter on his fifth ASB trip since spring of his sophomore year. His group is traveling to New Orleans and will work with Lower Nine, an organization that helps residents of the lower 9th ward repair remaining damage from Hurricane Katrina.
ale said he has worked with the organization before and chose it again because it was his favorite ASB location.
“I like the actual working and volunteering part but there’s only so much you can do in one week,” Gale said. “It’s the learning aspect that is important; (the trip) raises awareness and ideally you can build upon that when you get back.”
Though ASB participants said the majority of winter break trip participants tend to be upperclassmen veterans, several freshmen were so taken with the pre-orientation trip they were eager to go back for more.
“It was probably one of my best summer experiences,” Weinberg freshman Andrew Sze said. “I love working with and teaching children and that’s what I’m doing again this winter.”
After spending his pre-Wildcat Welcome trip in Pittsburgh at the Pace School, a school for children with learning or emotional disabilities, Sze said he will be teaching environmental awareness at an elementary school in Dominican Republic this December.
Several students said their parents are supportive of the decision to go on ASB trips for winter break, despite losing the extra time with their children.
“At first my parents were sad; they were like ‘You’re not coming home right away?'” Medill freshman Ally Byers said. “But I live close by (in Wisconsin), so it’s okay. They think it’s a good program.”
For some students, like Sze, an ASB trip is actually a cheaper alternative to joining their families.
“They’re living in Hong Kong right now so to go to them would actually be much more expensive than going to the Dominican Republic and then staying in Illinois,” he said.
ASB offers financial aid on a need-based basis for their trips, which, according to its Web site can range from $180-$300 for driving trips or more than $500 for flying trips.
ear-round fundraising pays for the financial aid, and students who need help also have opportunties for extra fundraising opportunities or can be offered a scholarship or payment plans.
Several participants said their parents didn’t mind footing the bill for domestic trips. The service trips abroad require flights and cost more, so students said they contribute.
“They usually pay, except last winter when I went to Costa Rica,” Gale said. “I had to split it with them.”
Aside from ASB’s charitable and educational benefits, many students are also attracted to the social aspect of the trips.
“At this point, most of my best friends are people I met on ASB,” Gale said. “You meet people you wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
