Alternative Spring Break
Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a weeklong service opportunity during the University's Spring Break in which participants travel to help meet a need in a community. Since becoming a student organization in 2000, nearly 1,000 students have participated in ASB.
Participants examine the root causes of the social issues they work with through pre-trip education and reflection during the trip. Students meet with their team approximately five times prior to departure in March and two times after the trip. Past participants have helped Hurricane Katrina victims by working with KaTREEna in New Orleans, built homes with Habitat for Humanity in Georgia, served individuals leaving the prison system in Texas, cleaned the Mississippi River through Living Lands and Waters, and more.
Students will also enjoy one free day during their trip to enjoy the sites in their host city or in a city they travel through. This structure allows students to get to know a community and its residents on a deeper level to have a lasting impact!
Bus groups typically include 45 total participants with six student leaders and three staff trip advisors on board.
Participants learn lessons in compassion and service that cannot be taught in the classroom alone, as well as the value of serving individuals, families, and communities in need. Students will bond with other participants and form new relationships from the moment they attend Reveal to find out which trip they are on.
2024 Trips
Applications will be evaluated based on a rubric including attitude, teamwork, growth, and cultural competency. Please be thoughtful in your responses.
Trip options:
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Trip one: Living Lands and Waters, Saving the Mighty Mississippi through Restoration and Recycling (Tennessee)
- You will be doing physical labor with this experience-- for example: cleaning up trash in rivers and lakes, removing invasive plant species, etc.
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Trip two: [HONORS EXPERIENCE ONLY] Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition: Work to Eradicate Homelessness (Ohio)
- The mission of the Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE) is to provide participants with a combined experience of meaningful service and social justice education to motivate them to become active citizens in the fight to end poverty and homelessness.
- Days during CUE are spent engaged in community-based activities and volunteering at local homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other agencies that provide services to people experiencing homelessness and living in poverty.
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Trip three: *International Children's Outreach, Building Community with Youth (St. Lucia, Caribbean)
- *This trip involves interaction with minors. By applying for this trip, you consent to a background check in compliance with ISU's Protection of Minors Policy 1.19
We will be doing a variety of projects benefiting youth in the community and in a local school.
Price does not include any needed vaccines, visas, luggage fees, or required ISU travel insurance. Trip departs from Chicago O'Hare, students must find their own transportation to and from the airport. - NEW: All Alternative Breaks international participants must have a recommendation form filled out on their behalf. This recommendation can be filled out by any faculty member, staff member, or student staff member (example: RA or student manager) at ISU or from another school or workplace. Please send this link: https://forms.office.com/r/ez4Ehwct1Y to someone on campus you think could recommend you for Alternative Breaks!
- *This trip involves interaction with minors. By applying for this trip, you consent to a background check in compliance with ISU's Protection of Minors Policy 1.19
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Trip four [IDS 232 STUDENTS ONLY]: The Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, & Reconciliation (Alabama)
- This course will explore civic engagement issues and theories through an immersive service experience. The class includes an immersive service trip with Multicultural Center staff to Alabama to serve with an organization focusing on civil rights issues. Contact Dr. Monica Overton at mtovert@ilstu.edu for permission to register for IDS 232.
- Trip applications will be sent to students who have registered for IDS 232 once class begins.
Fees
See our Costs and Payment page for information about trip costs, fee discounts, and our financial responsibility policy.