Alternative Breaks

Alternative Break 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.

The Alternative Breaks program is on hold for the 20-21 academic year due to COVID-19.

Alternative Breaks 2019-20

See our FAQ for answers most questions about applying and participating in ASB.

Trascendiendo Fronteras: Immigration at the San Diego/Tijuana Border (Tijuana, Mexico)
The San Diego/Tijuana border is one of the busiest, most militarized, and technologically advanced borders in the world. Participants will work with community organizations that advocate for immigrant rights and provide humanitarian aid along the border, as well as hear from people affected by the complexities of our immigration system. Detailed FAQ for this trip here.
Leaders: Camila Argueta '22 and Arein Nguyen '21

Homelessness and Colonialism in the "Racial Paradise" (Honolulu, HI)
Homelessness is Hawaii's most prominent, yet invisible, social ill. Participants will work with local organizations within native and Asian communities to develop an intersectional understanding of the forces that have determined who will be homeless, and how communities are advocating for justice.
Leaders: Lynn Nguyen '22 and Eunice Shin '22

Health Beyond the Hill (Washington, DC)
Through service and engagement with the immigrant community in D.C, participants will examine how immigrant status, class, and culture shape access to healthcare. Students will also learn about the ways policy shapes the lived experience of marginalized individuals.
Leaders: Eskedar Girmash '20 and Rebeca Perez Bernal '20

Food and Environmental Justice in the Crown of Maine (Aroostook County, ME)
Participants will learn about food justice and sustainability in Maine by working with local nonprofits and farmers mostly in Aroostook County. They will gain a real-world understanding of issues relating to public health, definitions of sustainable agriculture, food security, and indigenous rights.
Leaders: Riena Harker '20 and Lauren Hickey '20

Passamaquoddy Community and Education (Pleasant Point, ME)
For the Passamaquoddy tribe, education and cultural preservation are powerful forms of resistance to the continued forces of colonization. Participants will learn from educators at Beatrice Rafferty School and the Sipayik Youth & Rec. Center as well as leaders of tribal government, connecting their work to the broader indigenous sovereignty movement.
Leaders: Fiona Carey '20 and Louisa Izydorczak '20

Land, Identity, and Justice in the "Oldest Colony" (Mayagüez, PR)
Participants will engage with community organizations to better understand issues of environmental sustainability, Puerto Rican identity, and post-hurricanes Irma and Maria advocacy. In preparation for this trip, the cohort will organize fundraisers to provide donations for community partners. Spanish language skills required.
Leaders: Ray Tarango '20 and Michelle Veras '20

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.

Most trips do have a fee, but need-based financial aid is available to cover up to 80% of trip costs.

How Bowdoin AB Works

Alternative Break trips are organized and led by students who want to provide an intensive learning through service experience. AB 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

AB 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 AB 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.

Participants' Seminar

Prior to the trips, 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 and After the Trip

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.

To participate, ASB leaders must be on campus both semesters, but AWB leaders may be off campus in the spring semester.

Where and when are the trips?

AB trips can be local, national, or international, and they take place during both Winter and Spring Break.

What are the possibilities?

All AB trips are proposed, and led, by students. You can propose to build on a past AB trip, or identify a different social issue that you care about and plan something from scratch.

Alternative Breaks

The Alternative Breaks program is on hold for the 20-21 academic year due to COVID-19.