Students don't have to go home this Fall Break if they don't want to because at Ball State, there is always the alternative of helping Student Voluntary Services.
The alternative break programs have been at Ball State since 2004, with students traveling to various places around and outside of the mid-west, such as Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Graduate students lead alternative breaks at Ball State, and this years' overseer of the program is information and communication sciences major Efosa Ogbomo.
The type of work the different groups have done includes assisting refugees and immigrants, building and renovating homes for the community, working at camps and serving food.
This Fall Break, the students will head to Louisville, Ky., to work with Wayside Christian Mission. The students will be in the mission's warehouse to help sort material and work in its soup kitchen preparing meals for people.
"I want them to enjoy themselves and really understand the direct impact of the work they're doing because that really excites them about what they're doing, to know that they are actually helping people" Ogbomo said.
Ogbomo said he has received several emails showing interest about the program.
He said the program helps in two ways.
"The students get to see the other side of things and the organizations get the added help of additional people to help for a short period of time."
For the alternative breaks, the advising board takes the students outside of the state to get experiences that they would not get anywhere else, Katrena Thompson, advising board member, said.
Thompson, junior social work major, said she went last year for the spring alternative break with about 19 other students to St. Louis.
Last year for the fall alternative break, students went to Spring Hill Camp in Seymour, Ind. The students helped the camp directors prepare for the winter. They received so much positive feedback from the trip that they wanted to go again this year. However, they could not accommodate Ball State students because other groups volunteered to help the camp around the same date.
The application for the trip is available online at cms.bsu.edu/CampusLife/SVS/SVSFormsandApplications.aspx and will close Friday by 5 p.m. There are five short-answer questions included with the application and a $60 fee to cover food, travel expenses and living accommodations for the students.
Prior to traveling, students must attend three orientation sessions to find out more information about what they will be doing, where they are going and get to know the people they will be volunteering with.
Students interested in getting involved with Student Volunteer Services can email svs@bsu.edu, visit the Ball State website or visit Ogbomo in his office in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center room 136. For more information or to get involved with this years' alternative Fall Break, contact Ogbomo at eoogbomo@bsu.edu.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
