Alternative Student Breaks is an Auburn University organization with a simple mission: to engage students in an affordable and hands-on service project that encourages an understanding of pressing social issues in a significant way.
Applications for the 2019 spring break trips are open now.
ASB hosts a series of trips during both winter and spring breaks to a variety of international and domestic destinations. From Boulder Creek, California, to Costa Rica, each of the trips take on a specific “trip issue,” which range from animal welfare to children’s healthcare to environmental issues.
Applications for the 2019 spring break trips are open until Jan. 25, 2019. There will be five domestic trips and one international trip. The trips and the associated organizations that the groups will volunteer with are:
Asheville GreenWorks in Asheville, North Carolina
Serve901 in Memphis, Tennessee
Loggerhead Mainerlife Center in Juno Beach, Florida
Camp Summit in Paradise, Texas
YMCA Camp Campbell in Boulder Creek, California
Wine to Water in the Dominican Republic
Each trip is led by a student site leader, but before a student can lead a trip, they must first be a volunteer on an ASB trip. One site leader, Ashley Gardner, junior in animal sciences, will be leading a group of her peers to Big Cat Rescue in Tampa Bay, Florida.
“I’m excited,” she said. “Hopefully I will gain a better understanding of the issues that face big cats. Another thing is just kind of getting out of my comfort zone and being able to lead a group. I hope to be a role model to them.”
Gardner said that one of the main reasons she pursued being a site leader was the great site leader she had as a participant, and she hopes to live up to the great example she got see firsthand.
“I know my site leader from freshman year,” Gardner said. “She is someone I look up to. She is in vet school now. So, I just hope to be a role model to them like I’ve had my past site leaders be to me.”
Abigail Campbell, junior in biomedical sciences, will be leading a group to the Dominican Republic to volunteer with Wine to Water, a non-profit group devoted to providing clean water for impoverished areas.
Campbell first participated in ASB during the winter break of 2017 when she went to Nicaragua and had nothing but positive experiences.
“I definitely gained a lot of memories, and I’ve maintained friendships with people on my trip,” Campbell said. “Ever since we’ve gotten back, I’ve talked to some of them every single day. So, that’s a great thing about ASB, too. You get to meet people from Auburn that you otherwise would have no connection to.”
Campbell added that her motivation to become a site leader had a lot to do with a desire to be even more involved with what she thought had been a great experience.
“I think it’s really important for people to experience other people’s lives,” Campbell said. “I think ASB is a great way to do that while doing something that is actually benefiting other people. I think that it is a great service-learning combination. Being a site leader is fun because you’re a lot more invested in your trip because you’re a lot more involved in planning it.”
Aside from the hours of paperwork and attention to detail that go into planning the trip, the site leaders partake in training to prepare for their upcoming leadership roles.
“We do a bunch of leadership training,” Gardner said. “We do diversity training just trying to reach all corners of campus. We have meetings every week where we discuss how to handle situations that could be stressful or not go as planned. So, it makes you feel really prepared.”
Gardner and Campbell both agreed that all the training and planning that goes into the trips ensures a safe, fun trip and enables Auburn students to devote their breaks to a greater cause as well as create long-lasting friends and memories.
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