Cornell Alternative Spring Breaks participants learn about more than just service.

Ithaca, NY 4/4/2016: Instead of venturing to a beach or other vacation location during spring break, more than 120 Cornell Alternative Breaks student participants traveled in teams to destinations across the East coast to volunteer their time with local service agencies. The student-led teams took part in weeklong, community service projects directed by regional community partner representatives. Working with organizations as diverse as women’s shelters, at-risk youth, homeless and LGBTQ residences, therapeutic riding centers and youth substance abuse centers, students provided much needed manpower for work projects as well as ran in-person student-led workshops geared toward the particular populations the agencies serve.

Alternative Breaks a student-run program of the Public Service Center (PSC), is advised by Joyce Muchan, ’96 assistant director for student programs. The program promotes social awareness, enhances personal growth and advocates lifelong social action through engagement with nonprofit agencies in 14 locations in New York City, Welch, West Virginia, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Washington D.C. and Tangelo Park, Florida. Before departure, students participate in a rigorous 12-week team building and training program lead by Ms. Muchan and the student board to prepare for their trips and learn about the issues confronting the communities they will be working with. Through in-depth discussions and workshops, students explore core principles of reflection, diversity and inclusion, risk management, reciprocity and direct service that address the root causes of the social issues the agencies they work with address.

During the twelve-week planning period, in consultation with Ms. Muchan and their host organization representative, the community agency directs students on the projects they will do and the workshop they will lead. For New Settlement, a neighborhood revitalization, youth development, urban housing organization in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx, the team read the Lorax along with a seed planting project with a group of young students at the agency’s after-school program, as one of their projects, to help encourage students to take an active role in the revitalization of their neighborhood through gardening. The New Settlement team also participated in other community organizing and mobilization projects geared towards other segments of the agency’s population.

“Reading the Lorax and planting tiny seeds with third graders, speaking on a college access panel, doing door-knocking and phone banking to inform people about tenants’ rights — all combined to make this one of the hardest weeks of my life.” said Barbara Cruz ’19 PSC program assistant and participant on the New Settlement Trip. “I learned a lot this week; about the Bronx, about community organizing, about the people around me, and about myself. I had been struggling recently, and feeling some self-doubt about my current career path and prospects. This week erased all that. Cornell Alternative Breaks reminded me why I’m at Cornell and why I do the work I do. So yeah, this was one of the hardest and most exhausting weeks of my life, but it was also one of the most rewarding.”

Reflecting on the long-term partnership between New Settlement and Cornell Alternative Breaks, Alison Palmer, Director at New Settlement said “Every year we are thrilled to have the Cornell students come and work because of their energy and enthusiasm. They are very interested in the work, have amazing questions and engage with the new settlement community seamlessly”.

Each year, Alternative Breaks New York City Trip participants, along with their full schedule of service projects, attend a Network for Change alumni panel discussion. This year’s Network for Change event, “Giving back and fostering positive social change in our lives and our careers” featured panelists Shane Dunn ’07, Shiri Sandler ’05, and Renee Farkas, Associate Director, Public Service Center. Farkas directs the Cornell Pre-Orientation Service Trip (POST) program, a 5-day service program similar to Alternative Breaks, but for incoming freshmen working with local Ithaca agencies on community service projects. Dunn and Sandler are both past POST participants and team leaders, currently working in service fields and continue as active volunteers in their communities. Sandler, who was also an Alternative Breaks participant, trip leader and student board member said she uses all the skills and experiences she gained working with the two Public Service Center programs on a daily basis in her job as the U.S. Director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center. Dunn echoed that sentiment and encouraged the students to gain as much service-learning experience as they can during their time at Cornell.

To round out their long days, students on New York City trips also meet on their remaining evenings with other recent Cornell graduates and past Alternative Breaks participants currently working in service fields or active as community volunteers. This year, Mike Bufano ’09, an Alternative Breaks participant for three years as an undergraduate and then again as an alum, and currently working as University Programs Specialist at Google, visited with students at the church gym on the upper west side of Manhattan the students call home for the week, to talk about his recent trip as a humanitarian aid volunteer working with Syrian refugees in Greece, and his other volunteer work with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. Bufano encouraged students to both continue their own service after graduation as well as advocate to others that service should be a part of active citizenship.

The following night, Tunisia Bristol ’10, past Alternative Breaks team leader and currently a science/special education teacher with the NYC Department of Education, talked with students and had some specific advise. “The one piece of advice I can give to you all about service is to not only open your eyes, but open your heart. As cheesy as that sounds, I mean it. Understand and acknowledge your privilege and hard work to realize there are people who will never have access to the luxuries you’ve experienced and then work even harder to show them that there are people who still care”.

More than 2,100 students have participated in Alternative Spring Breaks since 1999. “I am extremely grateful for all of the community agencies who have partnered with us to support Cornell students in their development and understanding of social justice, root cause understanding and community building”. Said Joyce Muchan.

For more information about the program, or for a list of the community partner agencies working with Alternative Spring Breaks go to: http://orgsync.rso.cornell.edu/org/altbreaks or altbreaks@cornell.edu

Alternative Spring Breaks is a program of the Cornell Public Service Center.

Phone: 607–255–1148 Fax: 607–255–9550 Email: cupsc@cornell.edu