VCU students pursue spring break alternative

Kate Lewanowicz
Staff Writer
Next week, instead of heading to the beach or going home to relax, 92 VCU students are headed to one of eight destinations across the US and in Honduras to participate for Alternative Spring Break.
These students will spend next week doing activities including rebuilding homes, working at a camp for disabled children, and feeding horses at a equine therapy ranch.
“This is the fifth time I’ve gone on (Alternative Spring Break),” said Mollie Kamerow, a senior studying exercise science who has participated in Alternative Spring Break since her freshman year. Kamerow is now the president of VCU Alternative Spring Break.
“The first two years was in New Orleans to help with Katrina,” Kamerow said. “That’s when I really fell in love with volunteering.”
This year Kamerow is co-leading a group of 12 volunteers headed to Honduras where they will spend time either building a house or volunteering at a day care center. Site leaders are responsible for deciding on a destination, planning logistics like lodging and activities and keeping the group together on the trip and facilitating time for reflection every evening to make the experience more personal.
“What kept me going is the satisfaction I get coming back each spring break knowing that I did something good,” Kamerow said.
Some students are surprised by the level of involvement they experience while volunteering. Christina Edwards, a junior studying fashion merchandising, participated in alternative spring break for the first time last year in New Orleans helping with Hurricane Katrina relief.
“I went into it thinking that we were just going to paint houses or whatever,” she said, “but we actually built houses. We put up houses and put up walls. I was shocked to see that I was about to make walls for someone’s house that they were going to live in.”
One of the most touching moments of the trip, said Edwards, came at the key-giving ceremony for the owner of the house. “It was really rewarding to see how it all came together,” she said.
Edwards enjoyed the experience so much that she is leading a group next week to Give Kids the World village in Kissimmee, Fla.
Alternative Spring Break also provides a unique experience for students who may normally never cross paths to meet and form friendships.
Ashvin Sood, a sophomore studying psychology, spent his spring break last year volunteering at the Fowler Center in Michigan, a camp for children and adults with developmental disabilities.
“I was a freshman (and) basically met all these people I had never met before,” he said.
Volunteers spent time painting a cabin, spending time with the campers and getting to know the children one-on-one. People from completely different worlds interacting through service made alternative spring break a “bonding activity,” according to Sood.
“Even though I was working from 9 to 5 on my spring break, I was having the time of my life.”
Sophie Yuth, a senior studying bioinformatics and biology, is a co-site leader with Sood. She has participated in alternative spring break for three years now and sees it as “a really really gratifying experience.”
Sood and Yuth will lead a team of 12 people to volunteer at Agapé Therapeutic Riding Resources, Inc. in Indiana where they will do maintenance and cleanup work on the grounds, maintain riding trails and assist with riding lessons.

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