Students who are looking for a different spring break experience should check out what the Center of Student Life and Leadership has to offer.
ETSU’s Center for Student Life and Leadership is now taking applications for their Alternative Spring Break program which gives students a chance to perform community service during the traditional spring break.
“Alternative Spring Break places students in team community service projects in various places,” said Joy Fulkerson, coordinator for community service programs.
In the past, students have done community service in New York, Arkansas and Ohio.
This year teams will be sent to Winter Park, Fla., where work will be done with Esteem, Inc. working with minorities; Detroit, Mich., working with Save Our Sons & Daughters on violence prevention; Atlanta, Ga., working with Project Open Hand providing food to HIV and AIDS victims; Immokalee, Fla., in the Immokalee Friendship House working with the homeless shelter.
“We want to place them in a diverse environment from what they are used to,” Fulkerson said.
“Alternative Spring Break allows students to participate in service activities in a non-threatening way,” she said. “They are not alone. It’s a formal structure so they are provided with lots of information in advance.”
The Center for Student Life and Leadership hopes the experience makes a difference in the lives of the student volunteers.
It’s an opportunity for them to make an impact, a lasting impact, that often changes their life.
“By participating in alternative breaks we hope that people will actually become active citizens, that they are able to understand their place, their role in society,” Fulkerson said.
The program is based around service but students will be given a chance to go sightseeing or engage in other fun activities.
The program is open to all students and requires an application and interview process. Students are placed into groups with two student leaders and one faculty advisor.
All students are able to apply for student leader positions regardless of previous experience.
Meetings for the program are once a week for eight weeks before spring break.
For more information, contact Fulkerson at 439-5675 or by e-mail at fulkersj@etsu.edu.

Author