Spring breakers prepare for trips

Thinking about Spring Break may bring up thoughts of bikinis and the beach, but organizations on campus are using it as an opportunity to do good.

Groups such as Habitat for Humanity and the Alternative Week of Off-Campus Learning program utilize the break to take service trips during Spring Break.

This year Habitat for Humanity is taking a trip to help the community of Taos, N.M.

“The Spring Break trips are basically the same as any other build except we stick around for a few more days, but the tasks are the same for the most part,” Habitat President Maxwell Swanson said.

The main task for the USD group is to help the Habitat affiliate group they are working with.
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  Tasks they perform range from working in Re-Store, a second-hand store that resells construction materials, building homes and landscaping.

“The main thing we want to accomplish is safety,” Swanson said. “Driving 2,500 miles is going to be a challenge, and working in construction is always full of surprises.”

Habitat does many different activities to fundraise including dome concessions, selling T-shirts and a pasta feed later this spring.

AWOL is another group on campus that takes service trips for every semester for spring break in addition to other trips over Christmas and summer breaks.

When selecting trips, AWOL president sophomore Ashley McKeown said it’s up to the site leaders where the group selects and what the group decides to be its social issue.

The site leaders then work with AWOL executive board to choose a location where the social issue is prominent.

“All of our trips are service-learning based and follow the same active citizenship model,” McKeown said. “Each trip works alongside a community partner to complete tasks that are needed.”

To fundraise for the trip, AWOL hosts a soup and taco feed that participants sell tickets for. Participants can also sign up to work concessions at the dome or send out personal letters. McKeown said students have the opportunity to pay for their entire trip through fundraising if they really want to.

For other students, Spring Break is a way to get out of the cold of Vermillion and spend some time relaxing with friends.

This is the case with junior Emma Nilson. This year Nilson is planning a road trip to Panama City Beach, Fla., with six of her closest friends.

“We all decided to take a trip this year because we definitely need a break from Vermillion and the cold weather,” Nilson said. “Spring Break means getting away from everything to relax and enjoy myself for a week.”

Another way students utilize their time over Spring Break is spending some extra days with family.

Senior Taylor Steuven, is taking a trip to Disney World and to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with her family.

“I would have liked to take a trip with friends, but this is probably the last vacation my family will take before all of us are scattered in different states,” Steuven said.

This will be the first year Steuven has taken a Spring Break trip.

“This is the first time I am going somewhere instead of working, so I am really excited,” Steuven said.