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Some WVU spring breakers choose service learning over suntans

SPRING BREAK ALTERNATIVE — Learning doesn't stop for WVU students over vacation. Many participate in hands-on service-learning trips, such as this recent one to Tuba City, Ariz., where they worked with teachers and administrators at the local boarding school to promote classroom success. This spring break (March 24-April 1), some WVU students will visit Jamaica to explore international educational issues, while others will study civil rights history in Alabama and Georgia.

This spring break (March 24-April 1), some West Virginia University students will be traveling to Jamaica – not to shop and hit the beach, but to explore international educational issues.

It’s one of two spring break service-learning trips offered through WVU’s Center for Civic Engagement, which is partnering with Amizade, a nonprofit organization that coordinates global service-learning and volunteer programs.

Another trip will take WVU students to the South to study civil rights history.

These are “awesome educational opportunities” that are an alternative to the typical spring break, said Kim Colebank, director of the Center.

There is work involved – class meetings, papers and presentations and service activities, but these are experiences with rewards that last a lifetime, she said. Students will discover new places, make new friends and learn more about other cultures and themselves as they earn academic service-learning (SRVL) credit.

Here is a brief look at each trip:

• Participants in Community Organizing and the Civil Rights Movement will travel to Alabama and Georgia, where they will attend talks, interview community organizers and visit important sites along the Alabama Civil Rights Museum Trail and the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Lectures and readings will cover topics such as “race beat” journalism of the late ’50s and early ’60s; black history; integration of schools; racial discrimination and the law; and hate crimes. WVU senior Daniel Funk, a political science major from Hedgesville, will help facilitate activities.
• International Educational Issues – led by Ahmed Abdulai, a doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction from Africa – will take an in-depth look at education in less-developed countries. Students will spend a week in rural Jamaica gaining an understanding of the complexity of education and creative solutions in places with few resources. They will also participate in a service project at one of the local schools and complete about 15 hours of service.

While there is no deadline to apply, Colebank encouraged students to sign up as soon as possible. Courses fill at 12.

For more information or to download an application, go to http://cce.wvu.edu/.