Alternative Spring Break

    Alternative Breaks places teams of students in communities across the nation to engage in direct service and experiential learning during traditional school breaks.
    Students work alongside community members, performing short-term service projects and learning about such issues as poverty, racism, homelessness and the environment. Past trips have ranged from hurricane relief work in New Orleans to delivering hot meals to AIDS patients in New York City.


Alternative Spring Break


2012 Alternative Spring Break Sites

International Community School (Decatur, GA)
Focus: Displacement/Refugee Services                

      Over 2,500 refugees are resettled in DeKalb County, GA every year. The International Community School (ICS) gives the children in these families a unique opportunity to smoothly transition into the American culture and education system.  
ICS serves 400 K – 6th graders from over 40 nations and speaking more than fifteen distinct languages. Participants will support faculty in delivering the curriculum that follows the Georgia Performance Standards taught within the framework of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. In addition to direct contact with ICS students and faculty, participants will engage in a number of educational and awareness activities to better understand the difficulty in the cultural transition for these families.

Rural Appalachian Improvement League (Mullins, WV)

Focus: Public Health in Southern Appalachia

      This spring break trip will focus on creating and modifying the center’s healthy lifestyle initiatives. A strong component of the center’s mission is helping families in the West Virginia coalfields live a healthier lifestyle through education and raising awareness of the importance of exercise, good food choices, and growing organic food. RAIL has for some time had an ongoing Alternative Spring Break partnership with Marshall University that addresses diabetes and places a strong emphasis on issues that prevent and minimize the effects of diabetes.


For more information about Alternative Breaks contact the Office of Community Service Programs at serve@etsu.edu.