UA Students Choose To Volunteer During Spring Break

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Many members of The University of Alabama community are planning beach trips and ski vacations for next week’s spring break, but one Alabama group has very different plans in mind.

About 50 students, faculty and staff members will spend their spring break doing community service in Virginia, south Florida and Jamaica through UA’s Office of Community Service and Volunteerism (OCSV). The trips will last the entire week of spring break.

“Our trips are for those folks who want a different experience,” said Trevor Harris, organizer of a trip to Virginia where 15 students will work on sections of the Appalachian Trail.

Paul Barnett plans to lead a group of 20 students to south Florida. The group will join a Habitat for Humanity build in the area.

In the OCSV’s first international trip, OCSV director Valerie Phillips plans to lead 15 student volunteers to Kingston, Jamaica. They will assist polio victims at the Sir John Golding rehabilitation center there.

All levels of UA students will be going on the spring break trips, from freshmen to graduate students. Faculty and staff members will also be traveling to the three locations to do service work.

UA students learned about the alternative spring break trips from the OCSV’s publicity efforts and from BCE 300, a service learning course that Phillips teaches on campus.

For more information, contact Harris, Barnett or Phillips at the OCSV, 205/348-2865.

Contact

Amelia Parker or Linda Hill, Office of Media Relations, 205/348-8325