Alternative Service Breaks

The ASB Program
The Alternative Service Breaks (ASB) program brings students together and gives them the chance to challenge and develop as leaders while helping others in communities across the U.S.  Alternative Breaks allows students to reflect on the impact they can have by engaging in community involvement and hands-on service.  The ASB program places a heavy emphasis on critical thinking and reflection, which allow meaningful service to turn into a passion for civic engagement and action-based problem solving.

In 2006, more than 60 students had the opportunity to travel to Waveland, Mississippi to participate in Hurricane Katrina relief.  Waveland, a small community located on the Gulf of Mexico, was severely hit by Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after Katrina hit, CNN.com reported that according to state officials, Waveland “took a harder hit from the wind and water than any other town along the coast, and that the town was obliterated.”  Upon arrival on site, the students were quickly overcome with the extent of the destruction. It was something that a news camera could never capture.  After a week of intense work, the group returned to Idaho exhausted, but changed forever.  In the spring of 2007, the ASB program expanded dramatically. Over 100 students and advisors spent Spring Break in two sites in the Gulf and one site in the Appalachian region of Tennessee.  In 2008, the program sent a record number of volunteers to 10 different locations over spring break and we also sent our first international team of 24 volunteers to Cai Cay, Peru.

This past year we sent two international teams to Cai Cay, Peru and to Valea Screzii, Romania.  The team in Peru retuned to work on the same project we did in 2008.  In Romania, the team volunteered at an orphange working on the construction of a new building for orphans.  The teams in each location valued the physical labor they were able to contribute to the projects, as well as the many interactions they had with the children and local community members.

International Alternative Service Break
This winter ASUI and the ASUI Center for Volunteerism will be sending three teams over winter break on international Alternative Service Break trips to Romania, Cambodia and the Dominican Republic.

Participants on the trip to Romania will work at an orphanage in the small rural town of Valea Screzii.  Students will work on construction projects, as well as plan activities for the kids and residents at this orphange.

Those going to Cambodia will work primarily on the construction of new classrooms for a local school in Siem Reap.  There will also be opportunities for interaction with the children and local residents.

Our third team to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic will focus their work on an orphange.  Participants here will work with low-income and disadvantaged youth, as well as assist with construction projects around the orphange.

All of our trips blend elements of working with the local communities, particularly the youth, and construction.  Applicants do not need to have construction skills to be successful.  Students should expect to work hard in a very demanding environment.  You will be pushed outside of your comfort zone.

 Alternative Service Break Photo Gallery

Video of the 2008 ASB Winter International Trip to Peru