Leaders of several alternative spring breaks programs expressed their satisfaction with their traveling experiences this past week.

Mary Burroughs, junior in chemical engineering, said she lead a program through CSLEPS to New Mexico.

“I led the New Mexico Navajo Nation trip. Two issues we focused on were Navaho culture and education,” Burroughs said. “We alternated learning about culture through guest speakers and visiting cultural and historical sites with working in the schools.”

Burroughs said she highly recommended an alternative service trip to future students.

“If they are trying to decide whether or not to do it, they need to know it is a  lot more than just a service experience,” Burroughs said. “It changes your life whether you realize it at the time or not. It’s one of those things you won’t get to do after college. You can volunteer all you want but you’ll never get to go with a group of your peers that all want to help, so it’s a big experience to pass up.”

Alternative service breaks define service in an unconventional way, opening participants’ minds to learning about social issues, Burroughs said.

“The most valuable part of the experience is realizing how much there is to learn about social issues around you, as well as how much you can learn from your peers and just being aware that it gives you a different outlook on life,” Burroughs said. “That is valuable as far as service is concerned for your own personal knowledge.”

She said the trip immersed the participants in the local culture while giving them plenty of service opportunities.

“We stayed in homesteads with families while we were there,” Burroughs said. “We were based in Crown Point, New Mexico which is based in the Navajo reservation. In addition to learning about culture we also learned about issues other than education that were affecting the Native American people, some including environmental justice issues as well as Native American rights.”

Saul Flores, a junior in graphic design and business marketing, said he lead a trip for Caldwell Fellows to Puebla and Atencingo, Mexico. He said his trip also combined a focus of culture and service.

“We went to Puebla which is the metropolitan of Mexico and is known for its architecture and culture. They call it the New York City of Mexico,” Flores said. “There is a lot of tourism and it’s also known for its focus on religion. Our visit to Puebla had nothing to do with service while Atencingo was the majority of our trip which was service.”

Flores said the cultural side of their trip in Puebla allowed them to watch lucha libre, Mexican wrestling, as well as soccer.

While Burroughs said she spent a good portion of the trip focusing on whether her group was having a good time and gaining something from the experience; the leadership was only a part of the difficulties she faced.

“The hardest part was realizing how underrepresented the Navajo people are in policies that go forth and how overlooked they are and how little I had personally done to fix that out of ignorance per say,” Burroughs said. “It was just the realization that all this was going on without my knowledge was a really hard pill to swallow.”

Madeem Melborno, a junior in business management, participated in another service trip to Hoonah, Alaska. He said he was assigned the location by a CSLEPS leader and was asked if he would like to participate.

“I thought Alaska would be a great place to go,” Melborno said. “It seemed like a beautiful place to visit and I knew there were education and alcohol problems just from seeing it on the television, etc. It was actually a great trip.”

Flores said his involvement with the Caldwell Fellows trip was his way to give back to the program.

“My mother is actually an immigrant from Atenchingo and most of my mother’s side still lives there, pretty much all of my family is still in Atenchingo,” Flores said. “Everyone is different in Caldwell Fellows and we all have something to offer to the program, everyone is unique. I thought that showing them my family, showing them where I grew up, would be how I could give back to my program.”