By Larry Wood

Last March, a dozen Carolina students traveled to Jamaica for spring break and came back with more than just tans. The students are part of a trend on campuses across America: alternative breaks in the spring and fall and sometimes during the winter holidays, too. Instead of vacationing on balmy beaches in Cancun or skiing the slopes in Colorado, students are volunteering their time to make the world—at least one little corner of it—a better place.

In Jamaica, students from Preston Residential College mentored high school students. Other Carolina students rebuilt houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina and repaired a church in Guatemala.

“We want the students to learn that they can be civically engaged in the community, make positive contributions, and use their time in a valuable way,” said Michelle Peer, program advisor for Community Service Programs in the Department of Student Life.

Last spring, Community Service Programs sponsored a service trip to Atlanta during which nine students worked with SafeHouse Outreach, a nonprofit that helps the homeless and the poor. On the first day, the students locked up their cell phones, took off their watches, and put on their walking shoes, immersing themselves in what it’s like to be homeless. They visited feeding locations, shelters, parks, and abandoned buildings where homeless people often sleep.

Volunteers who are currently homeless but have been helped by SafeHouse and are on their way to new lives escorted the students. “We got to hear the perspective of someone who is homeless,” Peer said. “That interaction really broke down the barriers and encouraged the students to really learn about the issues of being homeless.

“These were regular college students who had little experience with the homeless but wanted to learn. The trip gave the students a whole new perspective on the life experiences and what caused these people to become homeless.”

About half of the Atlanta trip involved awareness. The other half involved hands-on, physical labor—painting and cleaning the SafeHouse offices—that is typical of most fall and spring trips organized by Community Service Programs.

“All of the trips, though, are about educating students on how to become engaged in the issues after the trip,” Peer said.

Volunteers from the Carolina Service Council helped families in Ocean Springs, Miss., to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Ten students and a graduate advisor worked with Camp Victor, a faith-based organization that
provides safe, secure, and sanitary housing to area residents affected by the 2005 hurricane, the costliest and one of the most destructive in American history.

At Camp Victor, the students split into two groups: one painted the exterior of a home and the other hung gypsum board and installed insulation.

“I have participated in multiple alternative break trips, and the experience is always rewarding,” said Rickey Evans, a first-year pharmacy student from Cades, S.C., who organized the trip. “The majority of our alternative break team were freshmen. This was their first service trip ever, but they assured me that it would definitely not be their last. They all realized how fortunate we are to live the life that we live.

The homeowners appreciated the students and their work, and even local residents they weren’t helping thanked them for volunteering. Methodist Student Network (MSN), led by campus minister Tom Wall, offers service trips each year: to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans to help with Hurricane Katrina relief during fall and Christmas break; an international trip during spring break to Brazil, Venezuela, and Peru; and a new trip that began last year to work with a church in Harlem in New York.

Last spring, 23 MSN volunteers traveled to Guatemala to build Sunday school classrooms for a church, organize a vacation Bible school for children, and help with a rural medical clinic.

“These trips are life-changing experiences that get students out of their comfort zones, away from their computers and iPods and cell phones,” Wall said. “They see their country, their culture, their race, their place in the world differently when they come back. They learn, too, that the church is global with many different expressions of worship and understanding faith.”

Joe Chen, a graduate student in international relations from Chongqing, China, took a traditional spring break trip during his first year at Carolina, traveling to Miami with friends. The summer after his first year, Hurricane Katrina hit. Since then, he’s spent every fall and spring break on service trips with MSN.

“One thing I’ve learned is that there is a lot of suffering still in the world, and maybe in the future I can do something about it,” Chen said. “I’m thinking about finding a job with the United Nations in a humanitarian relief program.”

Students in Preston Residential College invited students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Opportunities Scholars Program to join them for their first study-abroad, service-learning trip to Jamaica during spring break 2009. The group traveled to Petersfield, a rural community about 45 minutes from the beaches most tourists visit.

Students lived with local residents and experienced Jamaican culture and cuisine first-hand. To prepare for the trip, students took a new journalism course, Communication, Community, and Culture—Service Learning in Jamaica, developed and taught by journalism professor Keith Kenney. The students had expected to build or repair houses, and they did some physical labor; but they also interacted one-on-one with local students. “They asked us to talk to at-risk students or students having problems being motivated to stay in school,” Kenney said. “Their teachers probably tell them that every day, but when somebody from far away tells them, it has a bigger impact.”

Wherever Carolina students travel for alternative breaks, they represent the University in the best possible way, bringing home memories and new friends and leaving lasting impressions.

“When we leave, we hope the individual or nonprofit or community members we have served will say, ‘Oh, I’ve met students from the University of South Carolina. They were wonderful, giving, intelligent, kind people,’” Peer said. “They
are great ambassadors for the University.”