Life Isn’t About Debauchery
As an alternative to the spring break debauchery that many college students revel in, USC offers its students an opportunity to sacrifice that fun in the sun for some worthwhile life experiences. For the past 10 years, the USC Volunteer Center has offered the Alternative Spring Break program, allowing students to travel, learn about the environment and other cultures and to assist those in need.
This year, more than 70 USC students spent their weeklong vacation assisting the homeless at a shelter in Salinas, restoring vegetation at Death Valley National Park or painting homes and fixing bridges at a Navajo reservation in Montezuma Creek, Utah.
MARCELA ROJAS spoke with a volunteer coordinator who headed the Navajo Nation trip this year about her adventures and why service-learning projects may be better than a spring fling.
REBECCA MILHELM
21, USC senior
There were about 32 students who were part of this project. We worked from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day and painted seven houses, fixed two footbridges, built a basketball court and did some landscaping. There was also a group of nursing school students who did health screenings and taught health education.
In the evenings, we participated in cultural learning activities like a powwow and a sweat lodge and we got to sleep in a hogan one night, which is traditional Navajo housing.
Some of the more lasting memories I have from this trip are fixing the footbridges because they were stretched across the river with about eight-foot gaps. If the kids can’t walk across it to go to school, they have to walk an extra mile around. So it made it easier for them to get to school. It was gratifying to see what a difference it made in their lives.
One person, whose house we painted, invited us over to help make fry bread as a way of saying thank you.
This is my second year participating in the project. The reason I decided to become a coordinator this year was because my first experience was so incredible. Parts of it are hard, but in the end the students garnered so much knowledge that it makes it all worthwhile.
I think that in a lot of ways it’s better than your traditional spring break because it gives students a chance to learn about themselves and other people. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Other things, like a cruise or a resort, you can do over and over again throughout your life. This project helps you look at people as individuals and not as Caucasian or Asian or black. Each person is different and that’s what you learn and apply to your everyday life.
Some students think that the only way to have a good time is to party, but they need to learn that fun is more than getting drunk. As you get older, you learn that and learn to appreciate that. So why not get a head start?
Most of the people who apply for this program are ones who are interested in volunteer work. But there are some who go because they heard by word of mouth and end up surprised at how much they really enjoy it.
People tend to think that volunteering is only what good people do or what people with a lot of time on their hands do. But it’s really human nature to want to help. People want to feel connected to others. I think the easiest way to do that is to help others in need.
