Students use vacation time to volunteer

UW Oshkosh offered alternative spring break trips to students, giving them the opportunity to help out in Guatemala, Tennessee and Alabama, or Washington D.C.

Mike Lueder, the trip adviser on the Guatemala trip, said each destination had a different theme.

According to Lueder, the Guatemala trip focused on economic development; the Tennessee and Alabama trip focused on civil rights and social justice; and the Washington D.C. trip focused on homelessness and hunger.

Each trip kept a blog to show what they did each day and who went on the trip.

Lueder said the trips gave students an opportunity to do some hands-on volunteer work and to apply their knowledge in a different way.

"The students were able to apply what they've been learning in their coursework, regardless of their major, to real-life experiences, and bring those experiences back to their classes," Leuder said.

Amanda Sunila, a senior majoring in human services, said she chose to go on the Tennessee and Alabama trip because she is interested in equality and social justice.

"There's a lot more to the Civil Rights Movement than you read about in textbooks," she said.

According to Sunila, the group met with the Rev. Billy Kyles, who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and was on the balcony when he was assassinated.

Sunila also said while at the rescue mission in Tennessee she learned "how well off people have it … there's still a lot of homelessness."

Junior Bryant Nankee said he chose to go on the Guatemala trip because it was an opportunity to travel, practice the Spanish language and volunteer.

"I was able to immerse myself in the culture while volunteering and helping out a small community," he said.

Nankee said that many things are often taken for granted, and this trip allowed him to see how other people look at things.

"They are happy with what they have," he said. "They have a strong pride in what they have, even if it's not a lot."

Theresa Schneider, the student leader on the Washington D.C. trip, said this was her second year going on the trip.

"Washington D.C. is … unique in that it has a large percentage of homeless people sleeping on the streets each night, yet it is also home to some of the most powerful people of the country," she wrote in an email.

Schneider said she was able to learn a lot about the people she met, but also learned a lot about herself.

"I learned that not only do these people (people who are homeless) need me to serve and advocate for them, but I also learned so much about myself and the kinds of values I want in my life," she wrote. "I learned that many of the people we interacted with who are now homeless have bachelor degrees and master degrees."

She said she was also able to visit monuments and museums while in Washington D.C.

Nankee said he was able to take a tour of Antigua, Guatemala and see monuments and a monastery.

"It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen," he said.

Lueder said the trip destinations were chosen to benefit the students on the trip in many ways.

"We designed these trips specifically so that they're experiences students don't get every day," Lueder said. "We pick cool destinations so there's other parts to the trip than the service work."

Nankee said spending spring break this way is more rewarding than not doing anything or partying.

"It was good to get away and do something for the world," he said.