Some Ball State students are taking the opportunity to serve another community over Spring Break and walk away with a new perspective.
One group is taking part in a trip sponsored by Ball State Alternative Breaks, while another group will be on the Greek Alternative Spring Break.
"Alternative Spring Break gives students the chance to do something different than the traditional Spring Break," said Jessica Chandler, Student Life graduate assistant and Alternative Breaks adviser.
Brandi Terry, a senior journalism and women's studies major and Alternative Breaks' advisory board member, said she's been going on alternative Fall and Spring Breaks since her freshman year.
"I've never done the ‘traditional' Spring Break, so I don't really know what that's like. But I can't imagine anything being more fun and amazing than the Alternative Spring Break trips," she said. "I always have fun and walk away feeling like I've learned something and become a better person."
This year, ASB volunteers will go to St. Louis to work with Neighborhood Houses, a nonprofit organization that provides child care, after-school programs, health services and food.
Alternative Spring Break served Neighborhood Houses in 2009, and Greek Alternative Spring Break worked with them last year.
"Not only did we work hard each and every day, we also were given free time at night, where we would go to different restaurants and even go to look at Busch Stadium and the Arc," sophomore English education major Kalyn Hirschy, who went on Greek ASB last year, said.
This year, Greek ASB will head to Pittsburgh to work with The Pittsburgh Project, an organization that meets the demands of the underprivileged community of the city. It operates after-school programs for youth, home repairs for elderly homeowners, economic development and job training.
Volunteers will work with the sector of the nonprofit group that performs home repairs for the elderly. Their tasks will include plumbing and painting.
"These elderly would be out of a home if these repairs were not done," Christine Loy, greek life graduate assistant and Greek ASB adviser, said. "[The elderly] are usually breaking building codes."
Students going on the St. Louis trip will do behind the scenes work in the morning, such as cleaning, painting and administration. In the afternoon, they will volunteer with the after-school programs at local elementary schools.
Volunteers will have a chance to see St. Louis and enjoy the city.
Alternative Break trips are a great chance to meet new people and make long-term friends, Terry said.
"Within that week, I've made friends that I've grown really close with and stayed connected to," she said.
Most students on Alternative Spring Breaks have not met before applying for the trips, which gives them a chance to meet others that enjoy community service and may find they have other qualities in common.
The seven students going on Greek ASB this year are from six fraternities and sororities.
"Community service to some people is not the most fun thing to do, but it is really fun when you are with really awesome people learning about their organizations," Hirschy said.
ASB and Greek ASB are good trips for students who like to travel and learn about other communities, Chandler said. She said she hopes students gain a better understanding of social issues in the community they are working with.
"Doing community service in other communities helps students connect service to their life long term, not just to school," Loy said.
But it is also important for students to learn from their experience and grow from it when they come back to Muncie.
"I think it's important to help out people in other communities," said Gus Olynger, a junior biochemistry major who is going on ASB this year. "You will see similarities and differences between their community and yours and bring that knowledge back."
That isn't to say students need to volunteer every Spring Break. Olynger said he normally takes a family vacation to Key West, Fla., but he wanted to do community service outside of Muncie this year.
"ASB allows students to stay active instead of having time off," he said. "I feel better doing something productive over Spring Break instead of going to Florida and being lazy."