Some students opt for alternative spring breaks
Published March 20, 2007
MU students will take a break from classes and head to their chosen spring break destination next week, but some will work to leave that destination better than it was when they found it.
Senior Danielle Nygaard is one of two site leaders for a trip to Denver as part of Alternative Spring Break, a program affiliated with MU's Department of Student Life. ASB recruits students to go to various places in the country and do volunteer work during their spring break. According to MU's ASB Web site, seven groups will take trips with themes including "Urban Poverty" or "Hurricane Relief."
ASB Director Amanda York said 85 students are participating in the program this year.
Nygaard said the Denver group will spend three days doing construction work on a home for Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge and one day working in the Habitat for Humanity outlet store. The store provides much of the funding for Habitat for Humanity projects.
The trip won't be all work and no play for Nygaard's group, as she said the itinerary includes time for fun.
"We plan on going to Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods," Nygaard said. "We'll also be going up in the mountains around Boulder, Colo."
Another group, led by seniors Katrina Ellebracht and Ali Gabel, will volunteer for several different organizations in Atlanta.
"One day we'll be at a soup kitchen, one day we'll play games with the elderly, one day we'll work on the community garden," Ellebracht said. "So we'll be at a bunch of different places."
Ellebracht's group is working through a volunteer agency called Hands On Atlanta. She said the agency connected her group with the places at which they were interested in volunteering.
Ellebracht said her group will volunteer from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and have free time in the afternoons and evenings. She said possible free-time activities include visiting the Coca-Cola headquarters and the CNN world headquarters, both of which are located in Atlanta.
Ellebracht said one of the most exciting things about participating in ASB is the opportunity to meet other MU students.
Junior Christine Wagner and sophomore Jared Wylie are participants going on the Atlanta trip. The two have been dating for nearly a year and a half. Wagner said she heard about ASB from a friend from high school who is now an ASB officer.
Wagner said when she told her friends and family about her spring break plans, they were excited that she and Wylie had chosen to do something different.
"I think that when older people think of spring break, they think of people drinking and partying all week," Wagner said. "When we explained about the service projects, they thought it was really great idea."