The university’s alternative spring break program will send students to various parts of the world, primarily in the continental US, to do volunteer work such as installing guide ropes and interpretive signs to assist visually impaired people touring Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in San Diego, pictured here.
While many students dream of going to Cancun or Key West for their spring breaks, some students make it a mission to give back to different communities during their breaks.
Within two weeks, several students from UW will be leaving for spring break as part of the Alternative Spring Break program to take part in different service projects across the country and abroad.
The program is sponsored by the Service, Leadership and Community Engagement Office, which is dedicated to getting staff, students and faculty involved on campus and in the community.
The purpose of these trips is to help students gain an understanding of volunteering and community involvement.
What is unique about these trips is that students will actually be paying to volunteer, as the trips cost between $750 and $1,500. The program does offer scholarships to students who wish to participate but may have trouble affording the trips.
In addition to paying to participate in these service projects, students will be working most days of their breaks to give back to the respective communities they travel to. These students and team leaders will not simply be vacationing and taking in the sights; rather they will be working hard to restore the scenery.
Participants on the different trips will take part in a variety of service projects. For example, the trip to San Diego will include planting native species, removing invasive plants and a beach cleanup in Border Field State Park as well as installing guiding ropes and interpretive signs for the visually impaired in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.
Other domestic trips will include social development by volunteering at homeless shelters in New York City and volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to help save animals that have been abandoned or abused in Kanab, Utah.
Those participating in trips abroad will focus on community development as well as women’s development in Trinidad and Tobago, youth development in Guatemala, and constructing parks and roads in Jamaica.
While students may not be volunteering in the local area, the program intends for students to take what they have learned and bring back and to their local communities or wherever they go after graduation. It also hopes students will gain a sharpened sense of civic duty, a deeper understanding of issues facing the world and a greater appreciation for diversity, according to the SLCE website.
