Alaska, Nicaragua and California are just a few of the locations where NC State students have made an impact on global and domestic communities. The Alternative Service Break program has just recently returned from their winter service trips, an initiative that is part of the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics & Public Service (CSLEPS).
CSLEPS is a service-based organization led by Director Melissa Green, which focuses on the development of leadership, service and ethics within NC State’s student body. The program seeks to forge effective, transformational leaders, volunteers and innovators.
Asia King, a fourth-year studying business administration, is the student ambassador coordinator for CSLEPS.
“I am a transfer student,” King said. “When I first started at NC State as a transfer and even as a first-year, it sometimes can be really hard to find your place or where you fit in. CSLEPS has a lot of the same values and the same goals that I have, helping me find my niche.”
The Alternative Service Breaks (ASB) offer students the opportunity to participate in and lead 24 immersive trips that take place during fall, winter and spring breaks.
“We strive to create leaders that look past what we usually consider a leader and really challenge students to look beyond,” King said.
Every ASB trip focuses on a pertinent issue that plagues the area around the location. One of the ASB Guatemala trips focuses on gender issues during NC State’s spring break, particularly as it applies to Guatemalan gender norms and broader historical and political contexts.
“Wherever we go, we think, how can we help this community?” King said. “What do they want to achieve? What are their goals and how can we help support? Also, how do we bring what we learn back to our own campus?”
There are additional ASB trips that take place in other countries. The Dominican Republic trip just returned from their winter break trip, which assisted Outreach 360, an educational organization for underserved children.
Many of the Alternative Service Breaks also take place domestically. Jonathan Schertz, a third-year studying computer science, participated in Solar Spring Break, which takes place in California.
“Working with nonprofits, we installed solar panels in low-income homes,” Schertz said. “The total saved electricity is around eighty thousand dollars over the lifespan of the panels.”
Along with installing solar panels, students learn about nonprofit management and community outreach.
“What I found particularly impactful about this trip is what we see in the United States,” Schertz said. “I think often when it comes to service, we think that the issues of poverty and inequality are issues that are outside [of the United States] and keeping myself inside gave me a lot more respect for the issues that we have here at home and how much we can do to make an impact because these issues are ever-prevalent right next door.”
The Alternative Service Break applications have closed for the 2018 spring semester. CSLEPS is located on the fourth floor of Talley Student Union in 4111.
