the Informer

Every year the University offers a chance for students to give back to their community during their spring break.

This year the center of community service, the office of residential life and the office of student activities have teamed up to sponsor the alternative spring breaks and provide new opportunities. This year students will have a choice of going to Savannah, Georgia or Wilmington, North Carolina.

All together 18 students and three advisors will be going on the trip. The advisory board, which is comprised of the three offices, will come together to choose who will go by holding an informal interview to get to know the students.

The activities are immersion projects centered on the students getting familiar with the community they will be in. Some of the projects include working in soup kitchens, helping to build a house, cleans up and working at YMCA centers.

Applications are available at the Center For Community Service which is located at GSU room 209, and are due by October 25,2010. This trip can provide participants with leadership experience, new relationships, new friends and lifetime memories.

Matt Blocker, who is the director of the Center For Community Service says that “alternative spring break opens students eyes, and it is so nice to see students take their spring break off to help benefit communities in need.”

This is also the first year that the three offices are coming together to collaborate on alternative spring break.
Another aspect of the trip that is different from years past is that the advisors will be making a schedule for the students so that every day is packed with new activities centered on improving the community.

Students will also have an opportunity to tour the community that they are in and have a night out on the town. The advisory board will be taking care of transportation, food and accommodations. Throughout the year there will be fundraisers such as Krispy Kreme and bake sales. The goal is to raise enough money that each student is paying $150 instead of $600 dollars for the trip.

In past years groups such as Habitat for Humanity Hawk Hall
Community Service RLC, Hartford Hillel and the Campus
Activities Team have participated in the Alternative spring break and have traveled to places like New Orleans. The groups made major contributions to the communities and have also proven what an amazing experience the trip is.

Not only is it a hands-on experience with the communities but also a bonding experience with the individuals in the group and those that the students help. Altogether this is a event that has been going on for years and will keep a hold here at the university.