Students Take the Time to Give Back During Spring Break

By Brooke Brennan
Rotunda ReporterEach year Longwood offers a program called Alternative Spring Break (ASB) where students travel with a group of peers and engage in community service. Jen Rentschler, assistant diector of volunteer and service learning and advisor to ASB, encourages students who are interested to take part in the provided service opportunity. This year the trips will take place during the week of March 8, 2010. The ASB program offers one international trip and two domestic trips.

According to Rentschler, the Student Government Association (SGA) at Longwood provides ASB with a certain amount of money each year for the trips. Rentschler said that the international trip will be going to Mexico to help with community issues and will cost around $1,200 per person. Rentschler confirmed that one domestic trip will be going to Washington, DC to help with societal issues of the homeless, and the second domestic trip has not yet been decided, but will most likely focus on environmental issues. Rentschler stated that the domestic trips will cost around $125 or $150 each for students, which covers gas, room and board, food and sometimes a site fee.

Junior Leigh Cupitt is a team leader of the ASB program. In Spring 2009, Cupitt went on a domestic ASB trip to Tennessee called, "Once Upon a Time in Appalachia." She and ten other Longwood students worked on various projects to better the community of a local group of Native American Indians.

She stated that some of these projects included maintenance of the playground at a child daycare, cleaning up trails, and picking up trash on the campgrounds. While on this trip, Cupitt said that she and the team stayed in housing provided by a married couple on the campground, which added to the experience.

The best part of the trip, Cupitt said, is the rewarding benefits that are gained during and after. Some of these advantages include learning about different cultures, exploring social issues, and being a part of a meaningful cause.

Cupitt stated that ASB, "is not very glamorous work, a lot of times, but you are putting your spring break to good use. and that's what matters."

As popularity for this program is increasing, students are picked after going through an application process. ASB is becoming more selective, and Rentschler confirmed that the program will only accept nine students per trip. The international application deadline has passed, but Rentschler said that they will most likely accept applications until the end of November. Rentschler confirmed that applications for the domestic trips will be retrievable around January 2010 and will be due sometime in February 2010.

The ASB website states that, "A meaningful service experience requires preparation and reflection."

In order to be fully knowledgeable about this journey, Rentschler said that the accepted applicants are required to attend meetings that are held prior to leaving for the trip. The ASB website states that students will gather with the assigned group to learn about the community in which they will be living and volunteering. According to Rentschler, it is important that students attend these meetings in order to build strong bonds with group members before leaving on a trip.

Rentschler said that the program also requires participants to engage in reflection meetings during the ASB trip that take place each day after serving the community. According to the ASB website, this encourages students to develop critical thinking skills by further applying what they have learned.

Junior Katie Jamrozy is leading the international trip to Mexico. She first got involved with the program during spring 2009 when she was asked to co-lead the domestic trip to Tennessee.

Jamrozy said that her favorite part about ASB is, "the ability to give back and truly impact the lives of others."

Rentschler stated that ASB cannot afford to run more than three trips because of the program's budget. In result, Rentschler works with other colleagues on campus outside of the ASB program to help them put student organized trips together. As of right now there are not enough details, but students will also have the opportunity to attend ASB-inspired domestic trips that are unaffiliated with the organization, but will take place during spring break.

Katie Register, executive director of Clean Virginia Waterways (CVW), is the program director of Hull Springs Farm, which is one of the possible destinations for an ASB-inspired trip in 2010. Register said that Hull Springs is located near the Potomac River, about three hours away from Farmville, and was given to Longwood by a deceased alumnus for the means of education.

There are not enough details yet, but Register said that the trip to Hull Springs will include repair work on the ten buildings located on the farm which consists of houses, garages, a camp house, bunk house, and more. The farm can lodge up to 40 students, but Register said that the first trip will probably be smaller. More details about this trip will be known soon.

Register said that, "Students will be helping Longwood as well as having fun on spring break. You're right on the water with the docks. it's absolutely gorgeous."

Students who are interested in applying for one of the three ASB trips this spring break can retrieve an application from Rentschler's office in the Lankford Student Union, room 218. Students who are interested in finding out more information on this program, the ASB-inspired trips, or all other volunteer services are encouraged to email, call, or stop by Rentschler's office.