One of the big decisions that colleges students make every year is what to do for spring break. About this time, as college students go back to school, they are looking forward to spring break week. As college students ask themselves – Where should I go for spring break? Who should I go with? What can I afford? They should also be asking, how can I make my spring break experience more meaningful? One way is to participate in an alternative spring break experience.
If your spring break fantasies and ideas always revolved around partying in Daytona Beach, Florida or Negril, Jamaica; it might be time to think about less partying and more volunteering in an alternative spring break experience? Alternative spring break experiences allow college students to forgo the beach parties and jump feet first into volunteering. Here are five things that college students can learn from alternative spring break experiences.
College students can learn to develop the attitude of gratitude from alternative spring breaks
Many of the alternative spring break experiences available for college students during the break, will expose college students to other citizens, from at home and abroad, who are much less fortunate. College students can come back from alternative spring break experiences with a much better sense of gratitude for their own lives as college students.
College students can learn about the gift of volunteering
Some college students can learn that volunteering is a gift that goes both ways. Just talk to some of the college students who have participated in alternative spring break experiences and you will hear about how much they were impacted through volunteering. Many of these students speak to their alternative spring break experience as a chance to do something for someone else. Some college students felt that through their experiences they received just as much, if not more, than they gave.
College students can learn more about their own career plans
An alternative spring break experience can open the eyes of college students to career options. I know students who decided to go to law school because of what they learned about advocacy through an alternative spring break experience. I know others who decided on teaching, politics, science or travel just because of meaningful spring break experiences.
College students can develop lifelong friendships from alternative spring break programs
Participating in an alternative spring break program will put college students in contact with diverse students from all around the country and possibly the world. Making lasting relationships with the people they help, other students or program organizers can be a huge benefit of participating in alternative spring break programs.
College students can learn marketable skills
Imagine the value of including details of an alternative spring break experience on college resumes or graduate school applications? As college students try to set themselves apart from the competition, an alternative spring break experience can give them the advantage as they apply for internships, scholarships or jobs after graduation.
How to Choose an Alternative Spring Break Experience?
11 Alternative Spring Break Websites for College Students