During spring break 132 University of Idaho students volunteered in 12 different communities through the Alternative Service Break program.
The ASB program started in 2001 as a way for students to get involved in local, national and international communities and obtain hands-on service experience, according to the ASUI website. The program expanded after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, and broke its record of student volunteers in 2008.
Kelsie Saxe, UI junior, volunteered for the second year, this time spending the week in Boise.
“I worked with Boise Rescue Mission, more specifically with the women’s shelter City Light,” Saxe said. “We spent time organizing the clothes room, and worked in the warehouse for four days.”
Saxe said her group also spent a day at Nampa’s Central Elementary, which is dubbed a low-income school.
“We started out cleaning — doing custodial work — then split up and did whatever the teachers needed,” Saxe said. “I took students out one-by-one for a fluency test to see how many words they can read per minute because they are preparing for a standardized test.”
Andrew Blake volunteered for the first time in Jerome, Idaho, at multiple sites.
“At the food bank they were trying to create a shopping experience for their clientele. So we helped set that up,” UI junior Blake said. “We also worked at a public park and spoke in the high school to students letting them know what college is like.”
Blake said meeting with a trip adviser was the most beneficial preparation before hitting the road.
“We also went to three meetings with all students participating that covered what the purpose is, how the university views service and talked about privilege and how to deal with those topics if we saw them,” Blake said.
Alysha Van Zante also worked with the Boise Rescue Mission, but was not assigned like other students.
“I missed the deadline to apply, but a friend of mine said there were spots open to Boise so I jumped in and decided to go,” the sophomore said. “It didn’t matter where, I just wanted to participate.”
Van Zante said she leaps at any opportunity to volunteer, but was especially excited about this trip.
“I’m from Boise so it was great to see how local organizations work in my community,” Van Zante said. “I plan to go home in the summer and hope to volunteer there again.”
Blake, Saxe and Van Zante recommend the experience to anyone interested, and hope to volunteer in the program again.
“It was a great experience,” Blake said. “The service aspect is really fantastic and you learn a lot about yourself.”
Local trips cost students $100, while national trips are a flat rate of $350, Blake said.
Blake and Van Zante said they hope to volunteer for the longer, more intensive winter break trips. But Blake said cost may be an issue.
“I would love to do a winter one but they are kind of expensive,” Blake said. “But maybe I’ll talk myself into it.”
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