While some students indulged in the typical college spring break, others spent their week on Alternative student Break trips. These Northwestern-sponsored programs ranged from destinations such as Cuba to Argentina to New Orleans. At first glance, volunteering for seven days instead of relaxing could seem like a lot of work for a vacation, but read on to see why sophomore Natalie Bergner, the group leader of the New Orleans trip, had the time of her life.
The Current: Why did you decide to do an ASB trip?
Natalie Bergner: Well I’m part of a campus initiative, it’s like an internship with Hillel, so one of our goals for the year is to do some sort of initiative. Mine was creating the ASB New Orleans trip. Starting in August, I started organizing the trip and planning what I wanted to accomplish down there and cold calling organizations to see if they would take a group of students.
The Current: Why New Orleans?
NB: Even though Katrina happened a few years ago, people are still recovering from it and the city still needs a lot of help. I think a lot of the times when natural disasters or war happens people forget about it after about a year or so because there’s so much going on in the world. I wanted to bring attention to New Orleans again.
The Current:What did you do while you were there?
NB: We worked with Beacon of Hope, which basically helps to repair peoples’ homes. So for three days we were chipping away paint on this woman Genice’s house. On Wednesday it started to rain, so Thursday and Friday we worked with Green Light New Orleans, which is an organization that installs energy efficient light bulbs into anyone’s home for free, which was actually an amazing way to get to know the city.
The Current:How do you think the trip went?
NB: I thought it went almost better than planned. I was definitely nervous going into it because I’ve never led anything before. But I felt like the group wasn’t cliquey and everyone sort of got along with each other and we had a good balance of working six hours a day but then exploring New Orleans and meeting real people who live there and hearing their stories.
The Current: What did the group do with its free time?
NB: We went to Preservation Hall which is a famous jazz club in the French Quarter and we went to the World War II Museum. We went on a swamp tour on Saturday which was a little bit outside the city and that was really neat. We got to hold baby alligators! That was cool.
The Current:Why would you encourage other students to go on an ASB trip?
NB: I think it’s a really good way to get to know a city and not just from a tourist standpoint. You’re not just passively seeing things but you’re really engaging in the culture because you’re meeting the people and helping to rebuild a city, (which) in a way, makes you feel more connected to it.
The Current:Why do you think having an option like ASB is important on college campuses?
NB: I think it allows students to do volunteer work in a concentrated time period. I know we’re all so busy during the year that sometimes doing volunteer work just falls at the end of our list of things to do and accomplishing that over spring break makes it an easy and fun way to do it.
–Alyssa Clough
