Instead of going to the Florida Panhandle or on a cruise to Cancun for spring break 2011, students are choosing less exotic locales.
Alternative Student Breaks, an Auburn service program, is sending students to Kissimmee, Fla., Johnson City, Tenn., and New Orleans, La., for spring break.
Auburn's ASB program is under the umbrella of Break Away, a national service organization focusing on training groups to participate in alternative break programs.
Offered through the Office of Community Service, the program formerly went by the name Alternative Spring Break. By 2009, 14 students were sent to Charleston, S.C., to help out in the community.
Program growth and development led to the name change because there are now more trips offered than just spring break.
ASB is sending students to several domestic and international locations during the 2010-2011 academic year.
"This year, students will be traveling to Staten Island, N.Y., Hilton Head, S.C., Brunswick, Ga., the Dominican Republic, Ghana and Quito, Ecuador, in addition to the spring break locations," said Matt Lawson, director of ASB.
Applications for all trips are due by noon Nov. 12, Lawson said.
The minimum GPA requirement for the trip is a 2.2.
"Students who are getting involved in ASB should get ready to meet new people and step out of their comfort zones," Lawson said. "They'll need to be flexible because there could be a lot of different obstacles to get over."
Lawson said those students need to be ready to make new friends as well as benefit the community.
"I went to Spartanburg, S.C., last year for SB10," said Rachel Self, assistant director of domestic activities for ASB. "Even though it was such a short amount of time that I got to spend with the people because I had previous time commitment given to Camp War Eagle, it was the best spring break I had ever had.
"I wanted other people to have the same experience I did last year, and I wanted to see the program expand. So far, my favorite, yet most stressful part so far has been researching places to go because there is such a broad spectrum of places we could go."
One of Self's main responsibilities is to make contact with large service organizations that participants can work with on site, such as Katrina's Kids in New Orleans, Collegiate Habitat and New York's Project Hospitality.
According to the ASB website, the winter break trip (Dec. 11-19) will help with animal rescue and rehabilitation, hunger and homelessness, and housing and community development and restoration.
The weekend trip (Jan. 14-17, 2011) will aid in housing development.
The spring break 2011 trip will help with child and adult disabilities, as well as housing and community development, and the summer trip (May 7-15) will focus on community development.
"One of the best parts about ASB is that Auburn students can leave a handprint on whatever town they're working with," Self said.
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