A different spring break

Most Princetonians returning from spring break last week judged the quality of their vacations either by the darkness of their tans or the number of pages they were able write for their senior theses. But for the few who chose to devote their time to alternative spring break trips, the break was measured by the number of walls they painted, the size of the houses they built and the number of people they served.

Spring break trips provide a wonderful opportunity for students to participate in meaningful service projects. Because the purpose of creating a civic-minded and service-oriented student body is so important, we believe the University should do more to support these projects financially and institutionally.

While the University already provides support for service projects which take place during the year and summer, spring break service trips are often left to their own devices. Take the Cruz Blanca Initiative (CBI), founded seven years ago by a Princeton student who wanted to bring others to his home region in Mexico to help poor communities with construction efforts. Even after six years of successful trips, CBI still receives very little resources from the University and offers trips because of the donations of a few wealthy individuals. Due to lack of funds, this past year CBI was only able to accept eight new members from a pool of 65 applicants. Other spring break trips suffer from similar challenges. Students who participated in trips to help rebuild the Gulf Coast were forced to pay for significant travel and lodging expenses as well as the materials needed for their projects.

We believe that the University should either directly fund or work to encourage the creation of a matching grant program so that more students are able to develop strong bonds to service through spring break service trips. In addition to helping defray expenses, the organization of a "Spring Break Service Fair" would allow these programs to showcase themselves to prospective participants and encourage the creation of a new tradition of service during spring break. Finally, the University should encourage other students to create their own trips in the mold of the student-founded CBI by offering institutional and financial support.

Spring break trips are an untapped resource for the over-involved, driven Princeton students to do service work they might not find otherwise find the time for. Spring break trips can only be one week in length. But at eight hours a day, they can be more intensive and rewarding than semester long service projects.