Alternative Spring Break team travels to Puerto Rico for environmental, community-focused service

Northwest students and staff who participated in the University's annual Alternative Spring Break experience are pictured above. This year, the group traveled to Puerto Rico, where their work included equine therapy, an agroecological farm project and rainforest trail maintenance. (Submitted photo)

Eight Northwest Missouri State University students and two staff members explored Puerto Rico while participating in a service-based experience as an alternative approach to their spring break.

Members of the University's Alternative Spring Break (ASB) organization traveled March 1-6 to Puerto Rico, where they engaged in service and community-focused activities in partnership with Community Collaborations International. The Northwest team's work included equine therapy, an agroecological farm project and rainforest trail maintenance.

"The students that choose to participate in Alternative Spring Break are really exemplary of what it means to be a leader in the community," Garrison Kennedy, Northwest's student rights and responsibilities coordinator, said. "They represented Northwest by demonstrating that our University cares about what's going on outside of its own campus, and it cares what's happening in communities nearby and far away."

ASB is an immersion program that places teams of college students in diverse cultures and communities to engage in community service and experiential learning during their spring break week. The group also explores issues of social justice, economic disparity and community outreach while developing critical thinking and leadership skills.

Katelyn Briggs, a senior psychology major from Eagleville, Missouri, discovered ASB at a student organization fair as a freshman and has participated in each ASB trip since then. Briggs said she values staying involved and community service projects.

"You're there for five to eight hours a day, digging a trench or cleaning out a room, but the people we worked with told us that what we did in just a few hours would have taken them months," Briggs said. "You don't realize the impact you make, but you make a big impact."

In addition to providing students with a unique travel experience, ASB helps students develop skills through planning and fundraising. All funds raised help ASB students pay for the experience.

Kenadie Scollin, a sophomore elementary education major from Blue Springs, Missouri, joined ASB for the first time this year after she started attending meetings last fall. She said she established a connection with other members and wanted to make a difference during spring break while enjoying some travel.

In addition to service and travel, the ASB experience helps students develop skills they can apply in the classroom and workplace.

"Throughout the whole experience, just communicating with a close-knit group of people while also being open-minded was a huge skill that you needed to learn and build along the way," Scollin said.

Founded at Northwest in 2006, ASB annually gives students opportunities to participate in service-learning and volunteer projects within a different environment than their own. The goal is to provide individuals with service opportunities while positively influencing others' lives. In recent years, Northwest students have traveled with ASB to Wilmington, North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Jacksonville and Panama City in Florida; as well as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

During the fall semester, ASB focuses its activities on local needs and encourages student members to accumulate more than 20 hours of service work each semester. Students regularly volunteer at the New Nodaway Humane Society and participate in cleanup projects, among other activities.