“My trip may have been the most meaningful and amazing week I have ever spent,” University junior Cody Wollitz said.
What kind of trip did he go on? A wild week in Cancun? Broadway every night in New York City?
Nope. It was his spring break trip with Alternative Spring Break, a program sponsored by the University’s Service Learning Program.
Fifty University students participated in the Alternative Spring Break and served in four different locations in Oregon and California. Three trips were to San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while one trip was to rural Oregon with students from Oregon State University.
Despite their places of work being otherwise popular spring break destinations, University students visited the Californian cities to learn about issues stemming from HIV/AIDS, homelessness and immigration, and assisting at-risk youths. Meanwhile, University students who chose rural Oregon as a destination explored the issues surrounding reservations, including domestic abuse and tribal sovereignty.
Although the trips were primarily facilitated by student leaders, Sean Dinno, campus relations coordinator for the Service Learning Program, helped guide students and figured the logistics of transportation, food and lodging.
“Students have the opportunity to look at different social issues from a number of different perspectives,” Dinno said.
He participated in the first-ever Alternative Spring Break when he was a University student in 2008.
Students have found the program appealing for several reasons.
“I was instantly drawn to the opportunity to educate myself on the important social issues presented and to spend a week engaging a community in need about how they were addressing their problems and how I could help,” University junior Zach Nicolaides said.
Nicolaides was also a co-facilitator for the Los Angeles trip.
Wollitz heard about the Alternative Spring Break program through friends who participated in it last year.
“Alternative Spring Break initially intrigued me,” he said. “My two friends who participated the year before told me that I would not regret this experience.”
The locations chosen by the Alternative Spring Break program are not arbitrary; rather, they are chosen based on issues surrounding the location.
“We try to organize (the trip) in such a way that the students bring awareness to different social issues so they understand the culture of the place and how that issue affects the culture of the location,” Dinno said.
Participating students are also driven to become a team during their experience.
“I don’t know many other places where you can become wonderful friends with 16 strangers while servicing their greater community,” Wollitz said about his experience on the rural Oregon part of Alternative Spring Break.
Dinno is looking forward to future Alternative Spring Breaks and noted that participation has doubled since last year.
“I think that the work that the students have done through alternative break experiences is extremely valuable and life changing,” Dinno said. “They learn a lot about questioning their prejudices and stereotypes, and they also realize the impact that service can have on the community. They can come away with seeing that service is not just something to do as a requirement, but that service is a lifestyle.”
The trip also surprised students in ways they had not even considered.
“The people we talked and worked with; there was a great sense of hope,” Wollitz said. “People with very few resources and have lived through horrible experiences showed a sense of kindness that I had not expected.”
Others, such as Nicolaides, were surprised to learn something about their own character.
“My experience surprised me by showing me just how strong and compassionate I was as a leader and as a friend,” he said. “I will forever be grateful for this experience and the friends I’ve made because of it.”
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