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Students spend spring break = helping=20 others

By=20 Ben Fulton
The Salt Lake = Tribune

Article Last = Updated: 03/27/2008=20 07:32:45 AM MDT

Posted: 7:33 AM- Death = tolls were=20 written in spray paint on the sides of vacant houses. = Shoes,=20 toys and clothes lay strewn across block after = deserted=20 neighborhood block. After a day of work, the showers = were so=20 cold she almost blacked out.
    = "It was=20 more quiet than a graveyard. You could hear pieces of = houses=20 rattling. You could feel the death." =
   =20 Lacey Spor easily could have stayed home during spring = break=20 and attend her senior prom at Bingham High School in = March=20 2007. Instead, she traveled to New Orleans' devastated = Sixth=20 Ward for a week of building houses in the wake of = Hurricane=20 Katrina. Now 18 and studying to become a medical = emergency=20 technician at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), her = only=20 regret is that she had but a week of spring break.=20
    "I wanted to sign up and stay = until all=20 the work was done," Spor said. "Afterward, it was = something I=20 realized I needed to do."
    Most=20 stressed-out students seize upon spring break to party = on the=20 beach or hang with friends. But a growing number = prefer the=20 intensity of volunteer work to the thrills of = hedonism. Known=20 throughout college and university campuses nationally = as=20 "alternative spring breaks," such projects have = students=20 eschewing alcohol and revelry for a rigorous schedule = of=20 service and study among communities in need. = Universities and=20 colleges sponsor these far afield trips in hopes that = students=20 will=20

incorporate newfound skills and experiences into = their=20 communities. Students, however, foot much of the cost=20 themselves, often with no academic credit in return.=20
    "It's all about the desire to = learn=20 more about an issue apart from the experience of a = classroom,"=20 said Curt Larsen, student programs manager for Lowell = Bennion=20 Community Service Center at the University of Utah, = which has=20 organized alternative spring breaks for students since = 1996.=20
    In cooperation with the U.'s = Campus=20 Wellness Connection and Student Health Services, the = Bennion=20 Center has sponsored alternative spring breaks helping = the=20 homeless in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. = Students have=20 flown to Nicaragua to volunteer in medical clinics, = schools,=20 and assisted in agricultural projects. Here at home, = they've=20 floated down the San Juan River to pick up trash along = the=20 bank and restore vegetation along hiking and camp = trails.=20
    Westminster College's Center = for Civic=20 Engagement also offers an alternative spring break. = Its=20 partnership to help build houses in New Orleans with = Habitat=20 for Humanity proved so popular that some students were = turned=20 away. "It's an awful feeling, but it's also nice to = know the=20 demand's out there," said Center director Julie Tille. = This=20 year's project organized by the U.'s Bennion Center = featured a=20 look at immigration reform issues from the vantage = point of=20 eight trips spanning the West Coast, from Canada to = San Diego,=20 where U. students teamed with the Quakers' American = Friends=20 Service Committee to work with immigrants, and then = spent time=20 with Minute Men activists to take in the heated = immigration=20 issue for themselves.
    Headlines = and=20 case studies that students had only read about become = tangible=20 once they see what happens close to the border, said = Josh=20 Newbury, site leader for the trip to San Diego and a=20 21-year-old social work and political science major at = the U.=20 The first day, Newbury's group saw the deportation of = a=20 busload of people, some no older than 14.=20
    Amid all the weighty work, = there's=20 still time for fun. "Instead of being out here = consuming=20 excessive amounts of alcohol, we're consuming = excessive=20 amounts of Italian ice cream and eating really good, = authentic=20 El Salvadoran food," Newbury said. =
    Spor=20 found herself in New Orleans with a group of students=20 organized by the Thayne Center for Services & = Learning at=20 Salt Lake Community College. For this year's spring = break,=20 which ended last week, the Thayne Center organized = student=20 volunteer trips to Biloxi, Miss., also to help in = post-Katrina=20 rebuilding, as well as in southern Utah's Kanab, where = a group=20 of SLCC students assisted the Best Friends Animal = Sanctuary.=20
    Spor said her decision to help = rebuild=20 part of New Orleans' Sixth Ward was spontaneous. By = trip's=20 end, she was overwhelmed.
    "I = didn't cry=20 at all until I got home," she said. "There was so much = emotion=20 and so much shock when I was there." =
    bfulton@sltrib.com

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