From March 2 to March 9, Georgetown students will travel around the country to take part in the week-long Alternative Spring Break program, engaging in community service and social justice issues under the banner of Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice.
In recent years the number of applications for the program has more than doubled. Despite an increase in scholarship funding, the CSJ is unable to offer every applicant a spot, as it balances bureaucratic and financial concerns with the challenge of having a positive and lasting impact.
“The trips are an opportunity for the students, staff, and faculty from Georgetown University to make a difference during Spring Break, but our goal is much more than that,” wrote Ray Shiu, Associate Director of the Center for Social Justice, in an email to the Voice. “While our trips may accomplish a great deal in the week with the service they conduct, the truly meaningful experiences come from meeting and living in different communities.”
The Alternative Spring Break program at Georgetown started in 1974 with a trip to Appalachia—the first of its kind at any university in the U.S. Since then, it has grown to accommodate over 236 GU community members each year.
“In the past five years, the program has nearly doubled in size. As recently as 2005, there were only about 60 participants in the program,” Shiu wrote.
Even with its growth in the number of positions, Alternative Spring Break organizers still find it challenging to meet the rising demand. This year, around 100 of the 340 applicants will not be offered a place in their desired program.
“Habitat for Humanity gets around 150 applications, and we can only take 45,” said Whitney Pratt (COL ’14), a leader for the Habitat for Humanity trip to Alabama. “I’m really frustrated by it. I think that no one should ever be rejected from doing community service if they really want to. (https://treehouselodge.com) ”
Russell Kreutter (MSB ’13), Chair of the Board of Alternative Spring Break, agreed. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t offer everyone we want a spot. The vast majority of applicants are really good. Eighty to 90 percent are really high-quality applications,” he said.
According to both Pratt and Kreutter, one of the main problems with expanding the Alternative Spring Break program to more students are the barriers imposed by school bureaucracy.
“The biggest difficulty is the contractual process that Georgetown requires,” Kreutter said. “There’s a lot of bureaucracy around the process. We would appreciate if the administration could be a little bit more flexible.”
As the number of students participating in these programs has grown, so too has the need for fundraising. According to Maya Chaudhuri (SFS ’13), Fundraising Chair for the ASB Planning Committee, funding for the trips has increased in recent years due to the incorporation of funds by other organizations besides the CSJ Advisory Board for Student Organizations.
“We understand that students aren’t always able to afford the fee and we really don’t want money to be an obstacle for the trip,” she said. “This year, we have a significant amount of scholarship money that comes from the Corp Philanthropy Committee, the GUSA fund and SIPS [Social Innovation Public Service fund].”
This is the third year that ASB has fundraised for scholarships. Last year, 75 full and partial scholarships were given to students participating in the different trips.
“The challenge is making sure that the fundraising program continues,” Chaudhuri said.
Many times, spaces for volunteering are also limited by the nature of the trips themselves.
This year, the Border Awareness Experience in El Paso, Texas, received a total of 119 applications for the nine spots available on the trip. The limited space in the Annunciation House, a refugee and homeless shelter where Georgetown students stay during the trip, is one of the main reasons for the limited size of the group able to go to this program.
“For every bed that we take in Annunciation House, that’s another bed that can’t go to someone who needs it,” said Zoe Lillian (COL ’13), one of the leaders for the trip. “It’s good to be of a minimal burden but have a big impact.”
Another area where improvement is trying to be made is the impact students have on social justice issues beyond Spring Break.
According to Erin Riordan (COL ’15), co-leader for the Workers Justice D.C. trip, many students who have taken part of her program moved on to get internships in organizations they visited during the trip.
Additionally, several events are being added to the students’ agendas both before and after the trips are completed such as ASB-wide reflections, trainings, and campaigns.
To many applicants, doing community service or immersion programs is becoming an increasingly attractive and more affordable option than other traditional spring break destinations.
“I have the rest of my life to go to Cancun with my friends, and I don’t have the rest of my life to take a week off my busy student schedule to just learn about a part of the country that I knew nothing about, about marginalized people whose voices are not very loud because they are constantly being silenced,” Lillian said.
Students are expected to learn the final decision on their applications by this Friday.
