Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips provide a unique opportunity for students to participate in an intensive public service experience while increasing their understanding of significant social and environmental problems.  Engaged in direct service relating to these problems, students live and work in communities with which they otherwise may have little contact. Being completely immersed in this environment over an extended period of time allows students to internalize their experience, which can serve as a springboard for a lifelong commitment to social change.

During the spring semester, participants attend weekly pre-service meetings to prepare them for their service experience. These meetings include background and cultural information about the site, educational visits from Bowdoin professors, reading assignments, film viewing, fundraising, and team-building activities. During the trip, students participate in meaningful service activities, daily reflective sessions, and evening group activities. After returning to campus, students work together to educate the larger Bowdoin community about their issue area and experience.

Applying to a Trip

The application process for 2013 ASB trips is now closed. Students interested in attending spring 2014's trips should look for information in September of 2013.

Student Leadership

Alternative Spring Break trips are organized and led by students who want to provide an intensive learning through service experience. ASB leaders are responsible for all aspects of the alternative spring break trip, including recruiting participants, trip logistics, coordinating with the host site, and leading the actual trip.

Leader Selection
ASB proposals and leader applications are reviewed each spring for the following year by a committee of students, faculty, and McKeen Center staff. Those leaders whose trips are selected receive support and training from the McKeen Center to plan and implement their ASB trips.

Leaders' Seminar
During the fall semester, ASB leaders participate in the Leaders' Seminar, a 10-week course facilitated by the staff of the McKeen Center. This seminar prepares leaders in how to organize and lead their trips and to help student participants examine the political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of their service and the communities in which they will be living. Through this seminar, leaders develop their own seminar which they lead for their trip participants in the spring.

This Year's Trips

A Helping Hand in Philadelphia ($560)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Explore issues of hunger and homelessness by working with a food shelter, a housing and neighborhood redevelopment program, and other organizations designed to alleviate poverty. Leaders: Courtney Chuang and Diana Lee.

Harvesting Communities in Immokalee, Florida ($810)
Immokalee, Florida   
Work with and learn from the migrant workers of Immokalee, Florida by tutoring youth, working in a soup kitchen, and advocating for their fair and humane treatment. Leaders: Leovanny Fernandez and Macy Galvan

Lessons from the Passamaquoddy (FREE*)
Pleasant Point, Maine
Learn about Native American communities in Maine by volunteering in schools and learning from community members of the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Tribe. Leaders: Erin St. Peter and Micah Ludwig

*This trip is fully financed by the President's Office as part of the Bowdoin-Colby-Bates Wabanaki Collaborative.

Making Mississippi Home ($750)
Pontotoc, Mississippi
Examine issues of affordable housing by working on a Habitat for Humanity build site in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Leaders: Laura Keller and Marcus Karim

New Perspectives, New Voices, New York ($425)
New York, New York
Gain perspectives on urban education by working with students from Harlem Children’s Zone and a Bronx public school. Leaders: Emma James and Jess Caron

Revitalize Atlanta: Finding a New Home in America ($700)
Atlanta, Georgia
Learn about refugee resettlement by working closely with organizations that provide education, housing, and job training to Atlanta refugee communities. Leaders: Jessie Turner and Melody Hahm

Spring to Safe Passage in Guatemala City ($1300)
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Engage in cross-cultural exchange and participate in discussion, work in English classrooms, and facilitate creative projects at Safe Passage, an organization that provides education and support for the children and adults of the Guatemala City garbage dump community. Leaders: Sandra Martinez and Tasha Sandoval

Past Trips

The Alternative Spring Break program has a successful and exciting history.  The first trip sponsored through the McKeen Center (formerly the Community Service Resource Center) traveled to Peru in 2002.  Since then, the program has grown exponentially.  In 2012 we saw almost 100 students travel to 8 destinations, both domestic and international.  Through all this time, these trips have been designed and led exclusively by students.  See below links for descriptions of all the past trips and students' reflections of their experiences.

Read about past trips:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

For more information about the ASB program contact Luke Mondello, Assistant Director at the McKeen Center.