Alternative Break Program
What is the Alternative Break program (ABP)?
Do you want to make a difference during your spring breaks? ABP trips are organized to domestic locations to explore social justice themes. Trips intend to help students think critically on their role in the global society through service, activism, academic inquiry and leadership. Students are challenged by going out of their comfort zone and have a blast while learning.
Vision
RMU’s Alternative Breaks Program encourages students to become active citizens and life-long learners through immersing students in diverse communities throughout the country.
Goals
- Immerse participants in a new cultural context.
- Raise awareness about social justice issues and the structures that perpetuate them.
- Engage participants in meaningful service.
- Connect the Alternative Break trip with issues in their local community.
- Encourage personal reflection through the lens of service.
Program Details
The Alternative Break Program continues to grow each year, with each trip focusing on a pressing social issue. For the past two years, we've taken students to Washington, D.C. to learn about hunger and homelessness by serving at homeless shelters, transitional housing units, soup kitchens and food pantries, as well as meeting and talking with homeless individuals to learn about their experiences. A second group traveled to North Carolina to learn about the need for affordable housing by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity to build homes with and for low income families, learning first had about the challenges they face.
In essence, there are two elements to the program - the community service and the immersion into the community. It is our hope that students will begin to understand and think critically abou social justice issues through a greater context.
Be a Site Leader
Each Trip is led by a team of two student Site Leaders. While a staff person accompanies each trip, the real leaders of the trips are the student Site Leaders. Site Leaders go through extensive training before the trips to prepare them for every element from finances to conflict management. Site Leaders lead reflection exercises and become advocates for change when they return to campus.
Stay Tuned: 2009 Alternative Break Programs to be announced!
