Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Alternative Spring Break Leader Seminar

Alternative Break Trip Leaders not only organize all aspects of the service trips, but also are responsible for facilitating participants' learning before, during and after the program. The ASB Leader Seminar provides students with the skills and philosophical framework necessary to facilitate this learning while successfully planning and leading an Alternative Spring Break. The objectives of the seminar for each student are:

  • to explore the ethical dilemmas of leading an Alternative Spring Break;
  • to develop and enhance practical skills in the details of trip planning, developing a seminar, leading discussions, facilitating group dynamics and reflection, and designing a week-long service immersion experience;
  • to better understand his/her personal philosophy and approach to social change particularly as it might involve leading an Alternative Spring Break.

Seminar Topics

Week 1 Getting Started
What is public service? Why do we do service?		 Orientation
Week 2 Balancing Service and Learning
 Publicity
Budgets
Trip Logistics
  Reading:
Can service do harm? What to do when service fails?
Ivan Illich, “To Hell With Good Intentions” (1968)
Jane Eisner, “No Paintbrushes, No Paint: The Realities of Volunteer Work” (1997)
Week 3 Leading a Service Immersion Experience Reflection,
Group Development
  Reading:
What does it mean to be a leader? How does one lead for the common good?
John Gardner, excerpts from writings and speeches
Week 4 Designing a Learning Seminar 6 Week Outline
  Reading:
What sustains a long-term commitment to service?
Kent Koth, “Spiritual Reflection in Service-Learning” (2003)
Week 5 Fundraising Fundraising
  Reading:
How do we live with conviction in a cynical time?
Paul Loeb, “Soul of a Citizen” (1999)
Week 6 Ethical Quandaries and Issues/Safety Trip Selection
  Reading:
What’s the point of knowing good if you don’t keep trying to become good?
Robert Coles, “The Disparity Between Intellect and Character” (1995)
Week 7 Planning the First Meeting  
  Reading:
Whether service or activism, how do we 'push the peanut forward'?
Joan Zacharias, The Satya Interview with Henry Spira (1995)
Week 8 First Meeting with Individual Trips