Different vacations and events take place throughout winter break, one of them being an Alternative Break. Alternative Break is a trip hosted by the college.
These types of trips consist of travel days and offdays, but what differentiates these trips is the service projects that take place.
There have been trips where students do nine-hour work days rebuilding houses or helping a community get on its feet again. During this trip, students will help a Virginia state park prepare for a summer of recreation, according to information given in the meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12.
Jessica Gagne Cloutier, director of student involvement, hosted the information session for the upcoming trip.
Gagne Cloutier announced where the students will go on the trip. Locations of Alternative Breaks have been all over the country in the past, but this time students will be going to Kiptopeke State Park in Cape Charles, Va.
The state park is home to many beaches and trails and during its off season the students will travel to the park to help clean and rebuild the beach.
“It really is a rural coastal community surrounded by a whole lot of wetlands, and the ocean, which is not a bad thing for me,” Gagne Cloutier said.
The trip will run in the second week in January, at the end of winter break. The trip will be mostly service work with many opportunities the students can choose from.
Students will stay in a lodge located in the park where they have the luxury of their own beds, hot running water and a kitchen to make their own meals, which Gagne Cloutier explained has not always been the case on past trips.
“You have an actual bed to sleep on, and it’s your bed. Some A.B. trips are not as luxurious and we would sleep on floors. This is not one of those, which I very much appreciate,” Gagne Cloutier said.
Gagne Cloutier said she refers to the group of students as a team because of how much they will interact and do things together throughout the trip.
“We’re going as a volunteer, so I think getting to see different places from that lens is incredible… the connections you make is something you would have never gotten to do… you have so many networking opportunities for something you may have never known you would want to do in life,” Gagne Cloutier stated.
Nina Zienkiewicz, a senior majoring in holocaust and genocide studies and minoring in professional writing, had gone on the civil rights trip last semester but wanted to do a more involved trip.
“I loved the opportunity to travel with a group of students I didn’t really know. I know I came out of that trip really hopeful, especially with a career path in mind,” Zienkiewicz said.
During the trip there is a lot of hands-on service work with lots of manual labor, with a goal of making students feel proud for what they will do, Zienkiewicz said.
“Getting the opportunity to do something I haven’t done before is very exciting,” she said.
Ava Pittman can be contacted at
apittman@kscequinox.com
