Service with a smile
By Shayna Strang, contributing writer
Posted on November 16, 2006

Each year students look forward to Spring Break as a time to take a relaxing trip or get some extra cash, but some students want more. Their answer is the Alternative Spring Break program.

In the fall of 1992, faculty members formed ASB in response to damage done by Hurricane Andrew in Florida. The organization took its first trip in 1993.

Over the past years, the focus has shifted not just from faculty members but now to students as well.

“For a lot of students it’s a life-changing experience,” associate director of Community Service-Learning Lorelai Esbenshade said.
 
“It’s designed to take students and connect them to communities outside the educational environment. The trips aren’t just about service; growth and learning comes from it.”
 
Each year trips are planned to places all over the world. This year there are 24 which will go to several states including Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina and Missouri.
 
Some students may also take international trips to South America, Central America, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Many of these trips are revisiting locations from previous years.

These trips are divided into categories based on community need. They include environmental issues, hunger, homelessness, children, health issues or an overlapping of the above.

“Each trip has its own unique service,” Esbenshade said.

Services provided by the students range from working in a homeless shelter to beach cleanup to tutoring impoverished children.
 
There are 10 volunteers on each domestic trip; a staff member, two student co-leaders and seven students.

The student co-leaders organize and balance the workload while supporting other trip members during the week.

Junior Kaleigh Maher will be a leader for one of the trips to South Carolina this year.

“With my experience in community service, ASB sounded like an amazing opportunity,” Maher said.

For many students, the impression of ASB sticks with them. Senior Rebecca Bourne remembered hearing about ASB during her first visit to JMU during high school.

Four years later, she is one of the student coordinators for the program and is planning to do another trip this spring.

“Every year it’s, ‘what trip am I going on?’” Bourne said. “This year, they’re all great.”

In previous years, around 300 students have signed up for domestic trips, Bourne said.
 
Because of such competitive numbers, a lottery is held to decide who goes on each trip. This year’s lottery will be held Nov. 30 in the Festival Grand Ballroom Center.

More information on the program and trip descriptions can be found on the ASB Web site, jmu.edu/asb. There will be an information meeting about the domestic trips tonight at 7 p.m. in Taylor Hall, room 405.