GW Students Focus on Sustainability, Refugee Resettlement on Alternative Breaks

Seventy members of the George Washington University community spent time outside of Washington, D.C., serving communities in need as part of Alternative Breaks this month.

Students worked with youth empowerment in Los Angeles and assisted refugee resettlement programs in Atlanta. In Immokalee, Fla., they worked with organizations dedicated to migrant workers’ rights and in El Paso, Texas, they learned about border control issues and immigration.

Some students traveled beyond the continental United States to Puerto Rico where they focused on sustainability and organic farming. Others went to Nicaragua where they served with community development.

Seniors _Jennifer Curt and Kendall Meyer help to create a swale, a terrace dug into a hillside to stop erosion and maximize planting space in Las Marias, Puerto Rico, with Plenitud. (Photo: Olivia Murphy)

Alternative Winter Break volunteers in El Paso, Texas, participated in a border immersion program in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, with Iglesia Cristo Rey to gain a greater understanding of U.S. immigration and the issues within border communities. Here, the group stands outside a local medical clinic in the Colonias in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo: Kyle Freudenberg)

Volunteers in Atlanta stands outside the Jolly Avenue Community Garden in Clarkston, Ga., where they helped to work with the Friends of Refugees organization. (Photo: Mackenzie Fusco)

GW students volunteering in Puerto Rico help plant verdeflor and small root crops like ginger and turmeric throughout a farm with Plenitud, a permaculture farm that teaches sustainable practices in Las Marias, Puerto Rico. (Photo: Emily Gray)

GW students volunteering in Nicaragua stand in a classroom they helped build at a local high school in El Manzano Uno, Nicaragua, with Waves of Hope, an organization that partners with the community to support education, health, infrastructure and other development efforts. (Photo: Waves of Hope)

_GW students Catherine Bartlett (left) and Dylan Tally help paint a mural with the Garageboard Shop, an organization in Los Angeles that supports youth in under resourced communities to succeed in school through skateboarding and art. (Photo: Anthony Hannani)

GW students volunteering in Los Angeles helped at the St. Francis Center, an organization that provides a full breakfast service to homeless and low-income community members. (Photo: Anthony Hannani)

GW students serving in El Paso hear from U.S. Border Patrol at the US/Mexico border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to learn more about their role in the immigration system. (Photo: Audrey Alexander)

GW students serving in El Paso look across the border into the city of El Paso from the Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, side of the US/Mexico border. (Photo: Audrey Alexander)

GW students serving in south Florida explore the Immokalee area before working with various community partners that advocate for the rights of farmworkers and provide services like discounted groceries and free childcare. (Photo: Latia Lewis)