Last week, 12 George Washington University students spent their mornings volunteering in a Cherokee Nation Head Start classroom. The teachers asked the GW students to prepare materials for class and spend time playing with the young children. When it came time for lunch, the teachers asked the GW students for another favor: make sure the kids eat lunch because this might be their only meal of the day.
“All of the children come from really unfortunate backgrounds,” said Paige Powers, a GW freshman who volunteered at the national early childhood education program in Tahlequah, Okla. “It was really powerful.”
The students were serving as part of GW’s annual Alternative Spring Break. This year, students served in D.C. as well as seven other communities across the U.S. The trips were organized, funded and driven by students, and staffed by the Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service.
“It is wonderful that students choose to take their spring break to do something so valuable for themselves and for others,” said Amy Cohen, executive director of the Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service.
In Atlanta, students worked with the local Boys and Girls Club and a local children’s shelter to lead afterschool activities. In New Orleans, students worked with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for displaced residents following Hurricane Katrina. Students volunteered with LGBT homeless youth in New York City and Appalachian residents in Pipestem, W.Va.
New this year was a trip to Beaufort, S.C., and the Sea Islands where students worked with the Gullah/Geechee people, whose West African ancestors were brought to the U.S. through the slave trade. Known for their unique language, cuisine and culture, the Gullah/Geechee people have stayed in the South Carolina lowlands to preserve their roots. GW students had the opportunity to meet with Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Ms. Powers, a student in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, chose the Cherokee Nation trip for its emphasis on early childhood education. Ms. Powers, who wants to be a teacher, thought this alternative break trip would be a nice extension to her volunteer work during the school year with D.C. Reads, a literacy program that works in elementary schools.
“Alternative Break totally changed me. I want to go back every year,” said Ms. Powers. “At GW, we’re in a little bubble sometimes, and experiencing things like rural poverty opened my eyes.”
Junior Austin Frizzell went on the trip last year and enjoyed his experience so much that he applied to be a group leader this year. In addition to working with Head Start, the GW students did yard work for Cherokee seniors and met with Principal Chief Bill John Baker about his views on the Cherokee Nation.
“It was so fascinating to learn that there is this entire nation in the U.S. that I knew nothing about,” said Mr. Frizzell, who is studying human services in Columbian College. “Now I want to work to improve native rights in the Cherokee Nation.”
“Alternative Break trips give GW students the chance to become fully immersed in what they love: public service,” said Ms. Cohen. “They are helping community residents, strengthening their leadership and civic engagement skills and having a blast.”
GW has offered alternative break trips since 2006, and today they are a major part of the university’s overall community service efforts. Last week, GW was named to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes colleges and universities for their commitment to community service and service learning.
Instead of packing their bags to do service, some students stayed in the District and served local veterans. Students worked in the garden at Vinson Hall, an assisted living community for retired military officers, stuffed care packages for troops overseas and volunteered with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a national nonprofit that supports individuals who have lost loved ones in the military by providing peer-based emotional support, crisis intervention and grief and trauma resources. The GW students filled more than 200 care packages, which are sent to family members, with survivor guides, therapeutic candles and stress balls.
What freshman Elizabeth Settoducato liked most about the trip was the fact that since the organizations are all in the D.C. area, she’ll be able to continue volunteering throughout the school year.
Students also spent their spring break volunteering in Greensburg, Kan. – the site where a tornado leveled 98 percent of the town in 2007. Days after the storm, the rural town decided to rebuild their community sustainably, and the grassroots organization, Greensburg Greentown, was created to lead the efforts. GW students worked at the local senior center, which is projected to reopen later this year, gardening, building a walking path and organizing the interior.
Sophomore Jessie Johns, who went on the trip last year and again this year, did see improvement in the rebuilding efforts but said there’s still a long way to go.
“Many of the main streets are just getting rebuilt now. The population is less than half what it was before the tornado. Many of the trees are still dead, and a lot of the lots are empty,” said Ms. Johns, who is pre-med and hopes to work in disaster relief after graduating.
The Greensburg trip was freshman Holly Ratcliffe’s first experience with the Alternative Break program, but she said it won’t be her last. She plans to apply to lead the trip next year. Not only did she make connections with other GW students with similar interests to hers but she was given a new perspective on the world.
“It reminds you what’s really important,” she said.