Some consider break alternatives

It’s not uncommon to consider the inability to remember what happened during spring break to… It’s not uncommon to consider the inability to remember what happened during spring break to be a sort of rite of passage. However, there is a group of Pitt students who shy away from this mentality, opting for a more memorable alternative.

These students will participate in a national volunteer campaign called Alternative Break.

Nearly 100 Pitt students will travel around the country to help repair homes, build houses, help at soup kitchens and repair Tennessee’s famous Cumberland Trail.

Word of mouth and advertising have made this year’s group one of the largest groups in the organization’s 12-year history at Pitt.

Pitt students Shannon Black and Ashley Lynch met each other on their trip to Snowbird Cherokee Reservation in Tennessee last year.

There, they helped repair a Cherokee medicine trail, removing tree stumps and low hanging branches from the historic trail where Cherokee people grew herbs and roots for medicines.

Between working on the medicine trail and volunteering at a daycare, Black and Lynch’s group had fun taking language lessons, learning to make applesauce, beading necklaces and visiting one of the great wonders of the world.

On its day off, the group went on a boat to the Lost Sea, the world’s largest underground lake.

“We went to this underground lake in a cave. We saw these huge fish and sometimes they’d jump up. It was really scary. We thought they might jump up into the boat. It was so much fun,” Lynch said.

They also visited a waterfall, listened to live bluegrass music and enjoyed a simpler life without cell phones.

“Where we were there was no cell phone service. On the first day everyone freaked out. It was really funny, but in the end, it made the experience nicer and more relaxing,” Black said.

Many students believe that Alternative Break is about taking students out of their familiar environments so they learn about other ways of life.

Pitt student Michael Hurwitz spent his spring break last year at Myrtle Beach, S.C., but instead of partying all night and cruising the beach all day, he was helping to build a house for Habitat for Humanity.

“The trips each year mainly address the subject of poverty located somewhere around the East coast,” Hurwitz said.

Students travel to states such as West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky to work with Habitat for Humanity.

However, not everyone volunteering for Alternative Break builds houses.

The president of Alternative Break, Luke McDonald, said, “I am going to the Appalachian South Folklife Center again this year. I had so much fun the last time. We went to one of the poorest counties in West Virginia and helped do house repairs for people who couldn’t afford to fix their homes themselves.”

Last year, McDonald’s group was fortunate to meet the beneficiary of their work.

“We work from nine to four so we aren’t too invasive. But one day, the woman who lived in the house we were fixing came home early and saw us. She gave us a sincere thank you and said, ‘This is awesome.’ That made it all worth it,” he said.

McDonald emphasized that students do not need to have any construction experience to participate in Alternative Break because there are professionals trained to help inexperienced people build homes.

There are also two new programs this year for students who want to volunteer at soup kitchens in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Pitt Student Volunteer Outreach director Terrence Milani explained that in previous years, seven or eight groups of students went on Alternative Break, and not all the spaces were taken.

However, this year, all the spaces in the 10 programs offered sold out in record time.

Pitt’s Student Government Board grants Alternative Break $20,000 each year to help the participants pay for their trips.

For Pitt students, the programs range from $175 to $450. The fees include food, housing, transportation and entertainment.

Most of the participants do not mind paying hundreds of dollars to go on Alternative Break.

“I think that I would spend that much money going home and on gas driving around,” McDonald said. “It’s not like I’m spending $300 more than what I would be spending, I’m just spending it on something better.”

Black, Lynch and Hurwitz found their past Alternative Breaks so rewarding that they decided to lead groups on programs this year.

“Volunteering is something that makes me happy. I find that when I directly pursue happiness, I am not happy,” Hurwitz said. “Happiness is achieved as a byproduct of hard work toward something that I consider to be a worthy goal, such as providing a family with a home.”