More UF students will spend their Spring Break volunteering this semester than ever before.
The students will serve communities throughout the U.S. and abroad through UF’s Center for Leadership and Service’s Florida Alternative Breaks from Feb. 27 to March 5.
The trips, which include food, transportation and housing, cost between $100 and $1,400. They are student-led and engage participants in social issues through hands-on volunteering opportunities over school breaks.
Students can go on domestic or international trips ranging from a weekend to a full week, Joshua Funderburke, the center’s executive director, said.
He didn’t expect so many spots to go so quickly. Of the 156 students the center can take, 116 have already signed up as of press time, he said.
“This is by far our best year for sign-ups,” Funderburke said. “There’s only about 40 spots left and people are coming in every day to sign up for them.”
Students can sign up until Feb. 12, unless the program fills up before that.
“These trips are trying to push people out of their comfort zone,” he said. “It’s all about education, service and reflection.”
The trips are kept small, with eight to 12 students on each, Funderburke said. This allows students to bond with one another.
Students will volunteer in places such as Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the southeastern U.S.
Lucy Toman, a UF industrial and systems engineering junior, said she has already been on two FAB trips, one of them during Spring Break.
“Community service is a mindset,” Toman said. “It’s a way to live your life, not just something you do on a Sunday.”
While on a trip to Atlanta two years ago, she worked with fifth-grade teachers to merge a public and a charter school, since there wasn’t enough demand for both and each served students of different backgrounds, the 21-year-old said.
This Spring the trips will cover topics such as women’s empowerment, community development, education inequity and environmental issues.
“It’s not just a week-long trip,” Toman said. “This program can have an effect on you that lasts your entire college career.”
