Alternative Spring Break offers service learning opportunities for students

Alternative Spring Break video from G. Steve Jordan on Vimeo.

Each year since 2011, small groups of SUNY New Paltz students have chosen to forego stereotypical spring break indulgences and devote their time to community service through the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, which connects them with an array of regional organizations and puts them in a position to work as a team to make an impact.

ASB was created thanks in large part to the efforts of Erica Wagner, service learning coordinator in the Career Resource Center (CRC).

“I was looking for a way for students to get involved in the New Paltz community,” Wagner said. “Lots of students tell me they don’t really know the town well – they’re here for four years, they know Main Street, and that’s about it. So I think part of it was to get them outside and show them what the community holds.”

In 2015, the program celebrated its fifth year with its most ambitious, far-reaching schedule of events to date. In addition to volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, Scenic Hudson, the Dog Toy Project and the New Paltz Recycling and ReUse Center, ASB provides students with personal and professional development activities and leadership workshops.

In sum, students are asked to dedicate 50 total hours of volunteer work, which in addition to travel, group dining and other programs adds up to a 75-hour pledge over the course of seven days.

Jaclyn Greco ’17 (Undeclared) said participating in ASB was worth every bit of time and energy she gave, because it helped her feel more connected to the community in which she lives and learns.

“It was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences I have ever had, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” said Greco. “I learned so much about myself in the short week, and I feel like I grew as a person. I also met many inspiring people who just want to make a small difference in the world, and I’m lucky now to call them my friends. At the end of the week we were all exhausted, but we agreed that we wouldn’t look at our lives the same way again.”

Greco’s experience is in keeping with the goals originally set out for the program by Wagner and the CRC: to help students feel more connected to New Paltz and to help them build relationships with organizations that may offer future opportunities for volunteer and paid positions.

“The students who give their time for Alternative Spring Break get a better sense of what’s going on right here in the town where they’re living, and how they might be able to make a difference in the future,” Wagner said. “We don’t want to just volunteer; we want to learn about why we volunteer.”

More information about the Career Resource Center is available online.