Alternative Spring Break
Mission of the Alternative Break Program
Alternative
Break Programs promote service on the local, regional, national and
international levels through break-oriented programs that immerse students in
often vastly different cultures, heighten social awareness and advocate
life-long social action.
What is an Alternative Break?
An alternative break
program places teams of college students in communities to engage in community
service and experiential learning during the fall and spring breaks. Students
perform short-term projects for community agencies and learn about issues such
as literacy, poverty, racism, hunger, homelessness and the environment. The
objectives of an alternative break program are to involve college students in
community-based service projects and to give students opportunities to learn
about the problems faced by members of communities with whom they otherwise may
have had little or no direct contact. Examples of trips students have organized
are: tutoring migrant farm workers in Florida, building homes in Appalachia,
registering voters in rural Mississippi, and working with the homeless in
Washington, DC.
During
the fall break students work with the Habitat for Humanity.
During a long weekend Monmouth College students help build adequate
housing for persons who would otherwise live in deplorable conditions.
Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is an opportunity for students
and staff to travel to a community in need of volunteer help.
Participants experience cultural immersion and group interaction unique
to ASB. It's hard work--but it comes with the satisfaction of knowing that you
have made a difference in people's lives! March
27 to April 3, 1999, two trips are planned: A Lakota Native American reservation
in Sisseton, South Dakota and an African-American neighborhood in East St.
Louis, Illinois.
Contact the TNT Involvement Center TNT@monm.edu
for more information.