Imagine spending spring break on a beach in California, where you can hear the waves crashing while the sun warms your skin and you’re pulling weeds to rid the shore of invasive species.
Service work with the Bennion Center’s Alternative Spring Break program is how 200 U students choose to spend their time off. Since 1997, the center has sent students to different states to participate in various service activities for a week. This year’s deadline for applications is Jan. 22. Several of the 13 trips are already full.
One of those popular trips is the marine conservation program in Santa Cruz, Calif. Calli Bennett, a junior in anthropology, participated in the trip last year and is the student leader this year.
“Before I left and while I was there, I got really interested in the topic and really excited about the way that we impact the marine environment, even in Utah,” she said.
While Bennett might not work in marine conservation her whole life, she said she will take what she learned and integrate the knowledge in other ways.
Laura Schwartz, Alternative Break coordinator, said this is what the trips are all about.
“A lot of what the trip leads to is awareness about the issues,” Schwartz said.
The Bennion Center is offering trips this year to California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Canada and around Utah. Each trip has a theme, including community health, HIV and AIDS, hunger and food justice, and urban environmentalism.
There are no new week-long ventures, but one new weekend trip will be offered. Programs typically range from $425 to $625, and the weekend trip — addressing the issue of homelessness in Utah — will cost $45.
While only a few days won’t make a huge difference, Bennett said there is a lot more to take out of these trips.
“The long-term effects of the kind of education you receive when in that kind of intensive work for a week, it lasts,” Bennett said.
About 6,000 hours of service cumulate from Alternative Spring Break each year. The groups are made up of a maximum of 10 student volunteers, one student leader and one faculty or staff partner.
As the program expands, it allows for more student participation. Ninety-three percent of students who went on an Alternative Spring Break program reported they strongly agree or agree that they would be more likely to engage in community service in the future.
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