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by JACQUELINE SCOTT
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
“I hate to say it, but it’s likely that I would have ended up working, sleeping and watching Oprah in my pajamas,” junior middle grades education major Megan Anderson said of Spring Break plans. “An [Alternative Spring Break] trip is definitely more fulfilling than that.”
While many students party away in the Bahama breeze or sleep away countless hours of lost sleep, some students devote their Spring Break to pledging service for Alternative Spring Break Domestic.
“You’re not going
to party, you’re not going to a resort,” pre-professional biology major
Alex L. Squires said. “You’re cooking your own meals, sleeping on the
floor and working 12 to 16 hours a day.”
“It’s
classified as ‘alternative’ because it contradicts the traditional idea
of Spring Break of partying with friends in the southern climates,
thanks to MTV,” exercise science graduate student Tony R. Larkin said.
Last
year, Squires and Keeli J. Trathen went on a Children’s Hospital and
Hope and Healing ASB trip to Memphis Tenn., inspiring them to become
this year’s Hope and Healing ASB peer leaders.
“We fell
in love with the organization and the people,” Squires said. “The
people impacted us, making us want to come back to help.”
Anderson also became a part of ASB when she went on the Wilderness Works trip to Atlanta last year.
She hopes to break free from her comfort zone when she leads this year’s Manhattan YMCA trip.
ASB allows students to serve a community and meet new people.
“The
idea of going somewhere I have never been before, to perform a week of
service with 10 other strangers was alluring to me,” Larkin said.
Trips
are focused on children, health, environment, farming, hurricane relief
and urban poverty, ranging in location from Florida to New York.
All trips are $185, which includes transportation, lodging and meals at the destination.
To
participate in ASB, students must pick up a lottery ticket from the
Appalachian Community Together Outreach office, located on the second
floor of Plemmons Student Union, near McAlister’s Deli, before Friday.
The lottery will begin Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Blue Ridge Ballroom.
“When
your number is called, you get to choose the trip of your choice,”
Anderson said. “It’s a first come, first serve sort of deal. You sign
up that night.”
“Chances
are that you’ll get the trip that you want,” Squires said. “But if you
don’t, don’t worry. It’s all about the service anyway.”
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