Vanderbilt University Register: Local and remote Alternative Spring Break sites provide valuable life lessons

Photo by Neil Brake

Students Erin Snow (left) and Mollie Binkley (right) help Kanisha Coleman, 10, with her in-line skates near the Safe Haven Family Center in Nashville. Snow and Binkley were among the 300 Vanderbilt students participating in Alternative Spring Break 2002.

by Jessica Howard

A group of 11 female undergraduates didn't have to leave Nashville to participate in the 16th year of Vanderbilt's Alternative Spring Break March 2-10.

This year, 300 students participating in ASB traveled in 26 groups as far north as Toronto and as far south as Monterrey, Mexico, to spend their spring break serving others.

Students volunteering with the Magdalene Project -- a Nashville organization devoted to helping local prostitutes rebuild their lives -- witnessed the darker side of Music City the early hours of March 3.

Accompanied by a Metro police officer, the students toured Nashville's "red light" district for a disturbing look of the local sex industry. Seeing the inside of an adult bookstore, a massage parlor and a strip club gave students a crash course of the lifestyle the women at the Magdalene Project are trying to escape.

"It's great to see -- after seeing such a bad thing -- the women [at the Magdalene Project] so grateful for getting a second chance," said site leader Kristin O'Brien, a sophomore double-majoring in cognitive studies and human and organizational development.

During the week of service, the group helped Magdalene women make holistic health and beauty products for Thistle Farms, the organization's nonprofit business. The group also volunteered at the Nashville Rescue Mission and the YWCA, as well as other organizations dealing with a range of women's issues.

Photos courtesy of ASB
Among the 26 Alternative Spring Break sites was Philadelphia (top), where students worked with the Urban Nutritional Initiative that creates community gardens as a means of providing both agricultural education in local schools and affordable produce to low-income neighborhoods. In South Florida, ASB participants (above) worked to protect a variety of natural habitats and safeguard sea turtles at Blowing Rocks Nature Preserve.

Another group of students participating in ASB worked in East Nashville and focused on the area's homeless population. Working part of the week at the Hope Center on Eighth Avenue North, the group cleared a lot overrun by trash and fallen tree branches behind the homeless women's shelter. The Hope Center plans to one day acquire the lot -- the only grassy area in the urban setting -- and create a park.

"Looking up and seeing the Nashville skyline," while volunteering at the local sites, almost was a surprise for Tommy Mayfield, a junior studying English. "For all we knew, we were in a differentcity," he said.

Listening to how people found themselves in their current situation -- many were homeless or addicted to drugs or alcohol -- proved to be one of the most valued parts of the week for many. The group met a woman living on the streets who said she was a Vanderbilt graduate, a memorable encounter that hit uncomfortably close to home.

"There are unforeseen things that that are going to happen in your life that could put us in the same position as these people," said Lisa Leatherman, a junior studying economics.

Ben Ludwig, co-chair of ASB and senior studying neuroscience, worked in Bull Hollow, Okla. He and his group helped renovate buildings and homes at a Cherokee Indian reservation. Before traveling to the site, his group met frequently to learn about the plight of many American Indians.

"There is only so much you can learn before you go on site," said Ludwig. "But you can try and educate yourself as much as possible."

Preparation for ASB is so thorough that each student driving a 15-passenger van to one of 21 work sites was required to attend "Van Driving Day" on campus.

Ludwig, a third-year participant of ASB, traveled to White Oak, Tenn., the past two years. There groups tutored kids, and taught science lessons with kits donated by Vanderbilt Students Volunteering for Science. He recounted the unthinkable image of a first-grade-aged girl who had been a cigarette smoker for years.

"Every time I hear a statistic about rural poverty, I had a face and a friend -- someone I spent time with that week -- to associate it with," said Ludwig.

Powerful lessons learned during ASB affected more than just students. A handful of participants were faculty and staff members. Larry Dowdy, special assistant to the vice chancellor for student life, spent his 12th year volunteering with ASB at a new site in Blowing Rocks, Fla. He and the other members of his group worked at the Blowing Rocks Nature Preserve in southern Florida helping to protect the surrounding wetlands. The group also worked at the preserve's Sea Turtle Protection facility, learning ecosystem management to safeguard the threatened species.

"This is the week to be shaken to the core again," Dowdy said.

Some of the newer ASB sites tackled the issues facing Spanish-speaking communities. A new site in San Juan, Texas, focused upon Mexican immigrant farmers. In Monterrey, Mexico, volunteers interacted with community members through Las Caritas, a Central American organization similar to the Red Cross.

"It's a great opportunity for people who study Spanish to get out in the communities," said ASB co-chair and Monterrey site leader Missy London, a senior studying Spanish and philosophy. "ASB has given me the opportunity to combine my passion for service and my passion for Spanish."

Another new ASB site in Minneapolis, Minn., addressed issues surrounding the country's second-largest population of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered residents.

Getting students to the ASB sites and the expenses surrounding the week of service is pricey -- costing nearly $80,000. Southwest Airlines donated 24 round-trip tickets for sites in Santa Cruz, Calif., and to Los Angeles. Last summer, Vanderbilt's ASB Board held an inaugural fund-raiser for alumni of the program, raising approximately $4,000 [see July 2, 2001, Register]. Other support came from student activity fees and the administration.

The student-run community service organization was established at Vanderbilt in 1986, and has since expanded to more than 100 colleges and universities across the nation. This year's theme was "The Spark that Lights the Fire."

"One of our main intentions with the theme this year is continued community service," said Ludwig. "We're really trying to instill values of service."