Student Life
They Go on Alternative Breaks
Since 1998, some 1,500 AU students have gone into the world in a unique way. They鈥檝e gone from the southern tip of Africa and the mountains of Nepal to the city streets of San Francisco and the fields of America鈥檚 Corn Belt. They鈥檝e explored issues of youth and women鈥檚 empowerment in Haiti. They鈥檝e visited settlements in Kenya, refugee camps in Israel, and classrooms in Cuba. They鈥檝e built deep and long-term commitments with nonprofit organizations, continuing to learn and engage with these groups each year. They鈥檝e taken their learning from the classroom into real-world experience.
They鈥檝e gone on Alternative Breaks trips.
University chaplain Joe Eldridge went with them on the first Alt Breaks trip abroad in 1999. After Hurricane Mitch ravaged the country, Eldridge hung a poster in the Kay Spiritual Life Center, and a group of twelve went to Honduras to learn how a nation rebuilds itself.
鈥淪tudents wanted to make a difference in the world. It鈥檚 a clich茅, but it鈥檚 true,鈥 he says. 鈥淔rom the beginning, there was a social justice component woven into the concept. Trips weren鈥檛 about doing or constructing something, although certainly sometimes that was part of the trip. It was about immersing ourselves in a political, economic, and social context so we could figure out what was going on.鈥
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At first, they went organized and led only by themselves.
Andrew Willis Garc茅s went with them to Mexico in 2002 and 2003 before leading them to Cuba in 2004 鈥 back when they were a student organization: the Alternative Breaks Club. As he earned a BA in International Relations and an MA in International Peace & Conflict Resolution, they were the largest student-run organization on campus at the time, with an annual budget of $180,000 and another $60,000 donated to partner organizations abroad and at home.
鈥淭his was all real. This wasn鈥檛 academic at all. It was like, 鈥榃e can raise $10,000, and this group says that would be good for them,鈥欌 Garc茅s says. 鈥淚 saw a lot of students get a lot of real-world experience that way.鈥
Since then, they鈥檝e organized through the Center for Community Engagement & Service (CCE&S).
Campus Life staff member Kristina Thompson has been around Alt Break trips for the past ten years, watching them develop in some ways and stay steadfast in ways unique to AU.
鈥淲e鈥檝e grown hugely. What鈥檚 key is the things that haven鈥檛 changed, which is keeping that social justice focus and keeping that student-driven focus,鈥 she says. 鈥淭here are universities that choose trips, assign leaders to them, and the same trips go each year. AU is really unique because our students choose issues and places that they鈥檙e passionate about, and that鈥檚 where they decide to go. We鈥檝e been able to keep that as an important part of our program.鈥
Now, under the guidance of CCE&S鈥檚 assistant director of global learning and leadership Shoshanna Sumka, over 150 of them go on trips running in the winter, spring, and summer each year. Their focus, however, extends beyond that week or more of experience.
鈥淭he trip itself is important,鈥 Sumka says, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 so much more about a process and getting students who are passionate about issues to become involved in their community鈥t鈥檚 more about building relationships and continued connections with community organizations. That鈥檚 why the focus on the trip itself is just one part of the whole process.鈥
They鈥檝e taken that process to heart. They鈥檝e become nonprofit leaders, teachers, and active citizens. They鈥檝e gone on to affect change in the world.
鈥淎lt Break has created a generation of student activists that became real-world activists,鈥 says Garc茅s, who鈥檚 taken his Alt Breaks experiences into grassroots activism in Texas.
Before Elena Rubinfeld graduated from AU鈥檚 School of International Service in 2008, she went with them to Honduras and led them to Bolivia and Colombia in 2007 and 2008 to examine human rights and development issues. After graduation, she joined the Peace Corps in El Salvador and now works in immigrant rights issues.
鈥淎lt Break fueled what I was learning in the classroom and made it a reality so I could better understand all these things I was studying and put them into practice,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 played a huge part in my life and it continues to.鈥
With 68 just returned from spring trips to Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania, Northern Ireland and elsewhere, they continue going out into the world. They continue engaging in issues of social justice that will carry into the classroom and their lives beyond it. And, in doing so, they continue to build an Alternative Breaks program that has come to define AU just as much as it defines them.