Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Alternative Breaks Adds 7 New Trips

Over 325 students and staff members travelled around the country last week on service and immersion trips as part of the Alternative Breaks Program, which added seven new trips this year, including the first international group to Jamaica.

Center for Social Justice Associate Director Ray Shiu noted the importance of the programs as a whole in allowing students to experience different cultures as well as contribute to communities around the world.

“Through immersion into issues and in solidarity with community partners, [the Alternative Breaks Program] strives to build lasting commitments to social justice,” Shiu wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The program connects with communities through service, immersion and reflection.”

The program, which started in 1975 with a spring break trip to Appalachia, had 25 trips with more than 275 participants and 50 leaders in its 40th year. The seven new trips focused on urban agriculture, rural and urban health care, D.C.’s immigrant population, LGBTQ youth homelessness, and mental health, all in addition to the international expansion to Jamaica.

The Jamaica trip, which was entitled Magis: Jamaica and was a collaboration between the CSJ and the Office of Campus Ministry. explored economic inequalities at a global level. Twelve students, two staff advisers and student leader Caleb Weaver (COL ’16) spent four days on the north shore of Jamaica, participating in various service projects and studying the tourist economy of the region.

“We did an immersion experience in a homestay community and studied the tourist economy, as well as the ways that the structures of the tourist economy either promote economic justice or economic injustice, and the kind of relationships that have fostered between Americans and Jamaicans through this tourist interaction,” Weaver said.

He added that the group participated in service work at a local school and young women’s shelter.
ABP Board Chair Hopey Fink (COL ’15) highlighted the recent influence the program has had within the Georgetown community, as well as her desire to continue expanding participation. The program received more than 400 applications this year.

“Thanks to the addition of seven new trips this year … we were able to offer over 80 more spots than last year. We are looking forward to continuing to expand in new ways in the coming years,” Fink wrote in an email to The Hoya.

In addition to the new trips, the organization has evolved over the past year, changing its name from Alternative Spring Break to Alternative Breaks Program with the intention of adding trips during other breaks than the March holiday.

Acknowledging the previous week’s successes, Fink expressed optimism about the impact of this year’s new trips and other expansion moving forward.

“We are very proud of all the new trips that ran this year,” Fink wrote. “We are looking forward to strengthening our campus and community partnerships and to continuously improving every alternative break to give participants the best experience possible.”

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