On Friday, March 21, the clock couldn’t have moved slower as students waited in anticipation to be out of school and on the beach.
For many, spring break destinations are a simple process of elimination: Will it be Destin, Gulf Shores or Panama City, Florida?
But for other students, the beach was never an option.
Ashley Harris, senior in zoology, said she was much happier spending her spring break on an iguana reserve in the Dominican Republic.
“The Samaná Island in the Dominican Republic is the only place in the world that you can find both species of rhino iguana thriving natively,” Harris said.
Harris and her boyfriend, Ryan Burgener, originally chose the Dominican Republic as their vacation destination because they wanted to “get away from the hustle and bustle” of spring breakers in the United States.
“We took more of a do-it-yourself approach to traveling,” Harris said. “I feel like we had much more of a cultural learning experience.”
Tommie Reeves, senior in accounting, said he also had a cultural learning experience during break.
Reeves and a few of her friends went on a seven-day cruise that took them from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; Roatan, Honduras; and Costa Maya, Mexico.
“My favorite part was getting to drive a jeep around Cozumel, Mexico, and exploring on our own, doing whatever we wanted, not going to the typical tourist places,” Reeves said.
Reeves said besides the joy of driving, she especially loved the incredible scenery of Honduras and the island Little French Key.
“There was a man there that had all these animals he had rescued, and you could play with them if you wanted,” Reeves said. “They let us swim with the jaguar.”
While Reeves was enjoying the relaxation and wonder of island culture, Isabella Premont, senior in industrial engineering, was leading a team of students to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to collaborate with Widows Harvest.
According to their website, Widows Harvest is a ministry that serves widows in distress.
“It was very cool seeing how trusting these women were and how much faith they have even after all they have been through,” Premont said.
Premont said she felt her spring break differed from the typical student’s because she not only had to work, but she was also learning life lessons from a widow.
“There was this one woman I met who basically gave me some of the best career advice I’ve ever received,” Premont said. “She told me to try to find something that you personally have to offer, like, for me, I’m a girl working in engineering, and use what you have that makes you, you, to help other people.”
Harris said she also enjoyed helping another culture, and learning about how they help themselves.
“It turns out that the iguana reserve we were at isn’t funded by the government or donations,” Harris said. “Everything they make comes from what people buy in the souvenir shop there, and it goes to protecting the animals and environment.”
Realizing the world is smaller than you think can be both terrifying and motivating, something Premont said influenced her during her spring break.
“Our generation does really care about making the world a better place, and that’s cool, but they also seem to have this attitude of, ‘I’m awesome, I can save the world,’” Premont said. “Learning how to save the world, but being more humble about it, is hard.”
Whether preserving endangered iguanas, cruising islands or learning to grow from widows in Tennessee, these spring breakers took an unusual twist to a typical break.
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