Many students may spend weeks thinking about how they should spend their spring break. But for 18 eager students the decision was easy: spend spring break giving back to the community.

During the week of March 15, 2015 – March 19, 2015, 18 Kean University and Kean Ocean students took part in Alternative Spring Break. Alternative Spring Break is a way for students to give back through what some would compare to a week-long Habit for Humanity. “Spending spring break giving back to the community is the best way to spend it in my opinion…Anyone can go to the beach or party their spring break away but it takes responsible, caring people to do what we did,” said Jessica Granberg, junior biology physical therapy.

Students and staff worked closely with AmeriCorp members and Jersey Cares members. “It felt great to be able to give back to the community, and hearing all of the wonderful feedback from the AmeriCorps members, the Jersey Cares members, and even random people when we were out to lunch, it was an amazing feeling to hear ‘thank you,’” said Megan Collante, junior English-secondary education major

To patriciate students had to pay a $50 fee and fill out the proper paper work. This year the students worked on three different sites in the Jersey Shore area. One site, the Arocha family home, was in the painting stage of recovery work.

The second site, the Oliver family property, the home had been washed away into the ocean and the owners are presently living in Florida.  The volunteers cleared the area and put up a fence around the perimeter of the property.

The final site was the Monica family home of two retired senior citizens. The home was raised four  feet up, the crawlspace type basement needed to be filled with yards of sand, and the deck needed to be.  This group also went to a separate home to help a senior with basic home upkeep on the exterior of the home, consisting of removing ivy and bamboo, raking, nail removal from boards, etc.

Many of the students that took part in Alternative Spring Break enjoyed the experience and are excited to do it again. “I definitely recommend this program to students who are willing to give up just a couple of days during their spring break to really make a difference…What to us seems like a school trip to help other families, is seen as a blessing and sign to those families that there are truly good people in the world who care for them and empathize with their losses,” said Carlos Herrera, junior psychology major. 

The center for leadership and service (CLS) has different service projects throughout the semester. Visit Cougar Link for more opportunities for service hours.