NEARLY 500 University students volunteered through Alternative Spring Break this year. ASB at the University, now in its fifteenth year, has provided opportunities for thousands of volunteers to spend school breaks in an "alternative" way. The original mission of the organization was based on providing students an option beyond drinking, sun-bathing, or couch-surfing during spring break. In the past three years, ASB has modified that mission to reflect the changing priorities of University students. Our mission is now two-fold: 1) we bring together students from different social circles in order to 2) educate about and serve the global community. Our volunteer corps includes fourth-year fraternity presidents, a first-year trapeze artist, and an exercise physiology grad student. Our service projects include literacy training in Uruguay, invasive species removal in Arizona, and computer education for underprivileged youth in Charlottesville.
Recently, this newspaper published separate opinions written by two University students who attempted to characterize ASB's goals and values. Neither student has participated in our program, and both authors failed to completely grasp the purpose of ASB. Here, I will use stories compiled from ASB volunteers to highlight some true goals of our program.
ASB helps illustrate the economic and social structures that shape our world. One ASB volunteer has chosen international trips for her spring breaks: Ecuador, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. She has probably spent over $2,000 on airfare alone. While volunteering in partner communities, she learned that "too often the policy of simply give-what-they-lack creates dependence and builds barriers to impoverished regions eventually attaining some sort of autonomy or clout." She goes on to point out that, as graduates of this respected University, we will likely have influence on larger economic and structural issues. Though brief, week-long trips provide a window into the actual effects of policies that we study in our redbrick classrooms. The cost of each trip is an investment in the volunteer's education. The interest will be paid to communities in the form of socially conscious graduates.
ASB provides opportunities for volunteers to put a face on humans who live outside our privileged bubble. One volunteer on this year's Charlottesville trip met a man who sleeps in the local PACEM homeless shelter. Sky is a good-looking man who works construction at the new 15th Street apartments. Our volunteer had the opportunity to help serve meals to Sky and join him for some after-dinner conversation. In those conversations, the volunteer learned why Sky seemed so familiar: a year ago he was Sky-the-stir-fry-guy at O-Hill. He spends his nights at the PACEM shelter because his employer does not pay him a wage that will provide housing in Charlottesville or Albemarle. Sky has served University students in various capacities for seven years. Now, through ASB, students were able to serve Sky and learn directly from him about the institutional pressures that force him into a homeless shelter each night.
ASB serves the University by creating communities of students with shared experiences. To create positive change on Grounds or in other part of the world, a student requires support.This support can come from small communities of students who have faced tough issues together. Last May, students with ASB worked in impoverished neighborhoods of Accra, Ghana. The trip was the first time most of the volunteers had witnessed extreme poverty.The intense emotions that students felt in that situation were channeled into nighttime group reflections and informal conversations. The shared experience created friendships that hold deeper meaning than those formed back in Charlottesville. New friendships enhance our volunteers' ability to provide service to communities.
I have chosen to highlight these three goals to show that the success of our ASB program cannot be measured by one criterion. We believe in the broad development of service-minded students through specific, week-long experiences. Of course, volunteer trips are not inherently educational. ASB directly promotes education through pre-trip meetings, nightly reflections, and a service-learning grant program. In fact, this year many Site Leaders chose to include the recent critiques of our program in their group discussions. Through education our volunteers gain valuable insight from their trips. Our intentions are not purely altruistic and we have never made that claim. An ASB volunteer always comes back with a changed perspective. And that is our ultimate goal, because only through the first step of personal change will we have the opportunity to change the world.
To the hundreds of students who dedicate their school breaks to service, whether through ASB or another group, be proud of your commitment, be reflective of your experience, and be conscious of the privilege that allows you to serve others.
Kenneth Ott is President of Alternative Spring Break at the University.
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