Alternative break is an awesome program we
have at JMU
Offered through the CSL office, which
is the Community Service Learning office.
It's a way to just come together with different
JMU students as well as a learning partner.
To kind of see where service can take you
And to experience past just Harrisonburg.
Currently the Alternative Break Program at
JMU
Offers Thanksgiving break, Spring break, May
break
And weekends, which aren't any specific established
Weekend, but we try to offer at least one
a month each semester.
They do service trips throughout the country,
As well as outside of the country.
An opportunity to go do service with your
peers.
An opportunity for a couple students to get
some leadership
Experience really deciding what social issue
they want to work with, what location, what
agency.
JMU offers an assortment of places you can
travel
To experience different aspects such as environmental
Aspects, homelessness, hunger, people with
disabilities,
Really any range you can think of.
My experience working with the Alternative
Break Program
Has been working with children in different
social issues
Like homelessness and HIV AIDS.
My involvement with the Alternative Break
Program
So far, I've been a leader for one trip that
went
To New York and did Hurricane Sandy relief,
And in the coming year, I'll be leading a
trip to
the Amazon rain forest.
I went to Dominica this past March to work
With social services for my major in social
work.
My trip to Dominica was different than the
rest
Of the other spring break trips I've been
on
Because it was class oriented and it was
Through my major.
There's such a cool thing
About working with a professor outside
Of the JMU community.
It definitely created
A world of opportunity for me here to really
Know that this is the right thing I want
To do with my life and my major.
I was recently a learning partner on
A trip to New Orleans working with project
Lazarus.
A learning partner is a staff member at JMU.
Staff or faculty who comes on the trip along
With the students just to experience a different
Side of it.
The learning partner role itself is that
Of participant essentially.
Just to be a resource for the trip leaders.
They plan everything and take care of all
the details
And you're just there to step in if they need
you.
My role as a trip leader was to facilitate
working
And service and creating that sense of community
But the biggest part for me personally I think
Was creating that sense of community,
And immersing ourselves within the
Area where we were, and making sure
To be intentional with what we were doing.
Reflection on the trips is really key for
us.
That's what we would say as an office I believe
The real difference between service and
Service learning is reflection and so we do
Expect that our trip leaders are facilitating
Reflection every day on the trip.
At the end of the day I'd come back and
Sit with the group of students or a group
Of your peers and talk about the service.
Talk about the issues.
Talk about what went on that day.
And it is such a short amount of time
That we're spending together but we're
Experiencing this life changing event
And having them able to not only share
Their experiences on the trip but just
Open up about who they are and not
Being afraid to show who they are.
It adds a very, very important element
That really helps move people towards
That active citizen goal.
I think an active citizen, in my eyes,
Is somebody who takes what they learn
And applies it in the outside world.
Being active with the knowledge you've
Been given and the experience you've been
given.
To be involved in a community, to be educated
in
What is going on in your surroundings.
Where you can do service and how you can help.
You're walking down the street and you see
Something on the ground and it's trash
You're going to pick it up and not even question
it.
It becomes a part of your everyday life.
Just really recognizing what role you can
play
In something bigger.
It's just a way that can become,
Just the way that you process and consider
Decisions that you would think of others
And not just yourself.
Alternative break has done so much for me.
They've all been really defining in my JMU
Experience and my growth as a person.
Just as an individual and as a student.
It is really hard to put it into words, but
I think the best way to describe it was
It was very impactful.
Very intentional and
That sense of community was created and
I always talk about how one of my favorite
Qualities or things to see in people in general
Is that helpless smile where you cant control
It.
And they're just smiling like crazy
Just that feeling constantly, that's the kind
of
Trip it was.
The people we interacted with
The community we created, it was absolutely
Incredible and it is something that will last
For a really long time in my life.
