Students find altruistic alternative to spring break = partying

Kim Minugh
Mar 22, 2008 (The = Sacramento Bee -=20 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

Spring break has finally arrived for UC Davis senior Dan Xie, = and with=20 the specter of adult life looming before her, she is welcoming the = week as=20 her "last hurrah of fun" as a college student.

There will be no mai tais on the beach. No throngs of sunburned = bodies=20 to herald the breaking of spring. Only miles and miles of = California road,=20 under the speeding wheels of her bicycle.

Xie, a 20-year-old San Diego native, will pedal away her = vacation along=20 the route of the proposed high-speed rail line, trying to raise = awareness=20 about a project she thinks could be an answer to global warming. =

To her, the call of activism was much stronger than the call of = Cancun,=20 Mexico. "When it comes down to it, I could be doing something = productive=20 and fun, or just fun," Xie said.

She is part of a generation increasingly choosing the former. =

This month, an estimated 50,000-plus college students across = the=20 country have opted for alternatives to the sinful spring break = glorified=20 by MTV and the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise, according to Break = Away, an=20 Atlanta-based nonprofit that serves as a resource for universities = organizing alternative breaks.

"From what we see, that is the norm," said Samantha Giacobozzi, = 23,=20 programs director for Break Away.

Her group, founded by two Vanderbilt University students in = 1991, has=20 seen a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in participation each = year for=20 the past five years -- which is as long as the group has been = tracking=20 data.

Several themes emerge among alternative spring break programs,=20 Giacobozzi said, including poverty and education. Recently, = student=20 activists have expanded their interests to include immigration = issues,=20 AIDS in Africa and prison reform. Last year, Break Away hosted a = planning=20 session about service in refugee resettlements.

"If you can think of any social issue or social problem in the = United=20 States or internationally, these students are typically interested = in it,"=20 Giacobozzi.

Even MTV has gotten on the altruistic bandwagon. The network's = Think=20 branch, launched to promote youth involvement, helped the United = Way=20 jump-start its Alternative Spring Break program in 2006.

That program has grown from a fledgling group of 100 students = to this=20 year's 600.

Randy Punley, who oversees the program, said this is a = motivated=20 generation. Events like Sept. 11, the war in Iraq and natural = disasters=20 like Hurricane Katrina have "perhaps first made them angry, and = second of=20 all, made them want to do something about it."

Many alternative spring break programs focus on dramatic = examples of=20 devastation or social ills in places like New Orleans or Africa. A = budding=20 program at California State University, Sacramento, however, keeps = the=20 focus here at home.

In its second year, the program is struggling to gain traction. = Only 30=20 of the school's 28,000 students have signed up so far this year ,=20 volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and = the=20 Sacramento Food Bank. (Spring break begins March 31.)

"We have enough need in our local community," said Brendan = McVeigh, a=20 coordinator at the campus Community Engagement Center. "We don't = need to=20 go far, far away to make things happen."

UC Davis hasn't had an alternative spring break program in = several=20 years. But that has not stopped students from finding their own = outlets=20 for service.

Brandy Dunlap, 19, will travel to Tijuana next week with the = Davis=20 Christian Fellowship to build homes and work with orphans. She = said she is=20 proud to go to Mexico for service, "rather than to party it up." =

She might like to return -- but "for good clean fun, not like = 'Girls=20 Gone Wild,' " she said. "That's not really my thing."

For a lot of students, though, spring break still just means = going home=20 to bask in the luxuries of free laundry, mom's cooking and endless = hours=20 of sleep.

Davis student Russ Sakai, 21, will travel to the mountains east = of=20 Santa Barbara to recuperate on his family's ranch. A hedonistic, = drunken=20 break might have appealed to his underage self, he said, but not = now.

"Right after finals, you just want to do nothing and have no=20 responsibility," he said.

DAN XIE

Age: 20

Hometown: San Diego

Year: Senior

Spring break plans: Xie will cycle from San Francisco to San = Diego --=20 with stops in Sacramento, Stockton, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, = Riverside=20 and Anaheim -- to raise awareness about the need for a high-speed = rail=20 line.

BRANDY DUNLAP

Age: 19

Hometown: Stockton

Year: Sophomore

Spring break plans: Dunlap will go to Tijuana, Mexico, to build = homes=20 and work with orphans.

RUSS SAKAI

Age: 21

Hometown: Visalia

Year: Senior

Spring break plans: Sakai will visit his family ranch east of = Santa=20 Barbara.

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