ASB Trips
Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips provide students with the opportunity to engage in public service abroad, increasing their understanding of world regions and cultures.
LACLaS students have led intensive public service trips with Latinx Communities within the US, as well as in Latin America.
Recent ASB Trips
Lessons from the Border in Arizona
Participants will examine immigration, justice, and humanitarian aid in the context of the US-Mexico borderlands. Through service and engagement with community organizations, local advocates, and migrants, students will gain insight into the realities of this region and the impacts of US immigration policies.
Led by Roman Parajon '22 & Dani Quezada '22
Cultivating Community in Immokalee, FL
Participants will examine the impact of structural inequality on immigrants’ access to housing, education, and social services. Through hands-on work and communication with working migrant families, students will learn about the history of labor activism, the impact of COVID on agricultural workers, and the forces that shape immigrants' identities and experience.
Led by Emily Pan '22 & Julia Perillo '22 (Faculty advisor: Margaret Boyle)
Community Organizing and Advocacy through Health, Rights, and Sustainability in Puerto Rico
Participants will examine women’s health and rights, agricultural sustainability, and political and community organizing. Through engaging with community organizations, participants will explore these focal issues in relation to the complexities of Puerto Rican identity with respect to the U.S mainland, COVID-19, and Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Spanish language skills required.
Led by Beth Koeller '22 & Turo Linan-Martinez '23 (Staff advisor: Elizabeth Palmer)
Past ASB Trips
Cultivating Community in Immokalee, FL
Bowdoin students, led by Ben Hopkins ’20 and Ariel Gonzales ’21, engaged in hands-on work and communication with migrant families in Immokalee, Florida. Students examined the impact of income inequality on immigrants’ access to housing, education, and social services in a rural farming community. This trip further explored the impact of culture on shaping immigrant identity and experience. One participant summarized her experience by saying the trip “educated [her] about educational opportunities and systems in low income, underprivileged areas of America.”
Opportunities Through Education: 2019 Alternative Spring Break Trip to Guatemala City, Guatemala
A group of Bowdoin students, led by Reyna Parker ’20 and Louis Mendez ’19, partnered with Safe Passage, an organization centered around the Guatemala City garbage dump that provides educational opportunities for the city’s poorest children. Students engaged in activities to help them better understand the socioeconomic and political implications of childhood education access in the area. One student was able to “see the impacts of these [social and political] issues first-hand as [he] interacted with the teachers, parents, and students of Safe Passage.” While he understood the benefit provided by voluntourism, he reiterated “why it is important to tackle issues at a government level” in addition to the important work provided by volunteers.
Community Health & Advocacy: 2019 Alternative Spring Break Trip to Post-Hurricane Puerto Rico
Ellie Heywood ’19 and Ray Tarango ’20 led a group of Bowdoin students to Puerto Rico, where they connected with community-based health and advocacy organizations to address recuperative efforts in Puerto Rico post-hurricanes Irma and Maria. The group also examined issues of identity surrounding the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. One student “learned above all else how a small community is able to support its members,” not only through health-based efforts but also “in all areas of life.” She could see the genuineness in the way community members “frequently [and] lovingly” interaction.
Opportunity through Education: Providing Safe Passage in Guatemala City, Guatemala (2018)
Led by Jorge Gómez ’18 and Dia Su ’18, twelve students participated in the College’s thirteenth trip to work alongside staff at Camino Seguro (Safe Passage), an organization founded by Hanley Denning ’92, to help break the cycle of poverty for families who live and work around the Guatemala City garbage dump.
Following an eight-week seminar at Bowdoin organized by the leaders, in which they critically examined issues surrounding service and international aid, and read and discussed recent Guatemalan history with Professor Allen Wells, the students deepened their understanding of the social, political and economic issues surrounding access to childhood education in Guatemala through working with students in classrooms at Safe Passage’s preschool, elementary school and reinforcement center, and speaking with women in the organization’s CREAMOS literacy program.
In March 2017, 12 students participated in Bowdoin’s twelfth Alternative Spring Break trip to Guatemala City, Guatemala to work alongside staff at Camino Seguro (Safe Passage), founded by Hanley Denning ’92, which serves families who live and work around the city’s notorious garbage dump. Trip Leaders Chrissy Rujiraorchai ’17 and Ryan Herman ’17 prepared participants with an 8-week seminar that considered the history of the garbage dump, the political history that has led to the conditions observed there today, and pedagogical preparation to help participants work effectively with Safe Passage’s students.