An Aggie Tradition: Spend Spring Break Focusing On Service

Texas A&M University students are known for having a strong tradition of community service, and that commitment will be evident on several fronts when thousands of Aggies take off for spring break next week.

When most people think of “college students” and “spring break,” they picture crowded beaches filled with partying students – and some Aggies will join in — however, for hundreds of Aggies, it’s an opportunity to take a break from their academic responsibilities to help others. And many of these students will return from spring break service projects and immediately start gearing up to take part in Big Event, the largest one-day student-run service project in the nation, scheduled for March 28 in the Bryan-College Station area.

Some students with Aggie Replant got an early start by once again heading to Bastrop State Park to help replenish trees lost during the devastating 2011 wildfire season — which destroyed an estimated 96 percent of the park. Hundreds of students continue to participate in the five-year campaign to plant 4 million trees by 2017. Since the campaign’s inception in 2013, Aggie Replant has helped plant over 21,000 seedlings at the state park.

Texas A&M even has a student organization called “Alternative Spring Break” that was formed in 2000 just for the purpose of providing students the opportunity to serve others during their week away from campus. Several groups of Aggies will pay their own way to travel to various places around the country to volunteer their services.

Signing up as a volunteer isn’t a last-minute decision so the Alternative Spring Break organization trains student leaders for each trip. Blake Sokora, biological and agricultural engineering sophomore, is one of the students who help train those site leaders and volunteers so they are prepared before the trip begins.

“You’re going to a faraway place, so you need maps, a basic plan for what you’re going to be doing during the week and food plans for 13 people over the course of a week,” Sokora said. “My job is just to kind of guide them through that and give them pointers.”

Although no central clearing house exists to keep track of all of the spring break and year-round service projects being undertaken by Aggies — in many cases, they just do them without public notice or fanfare — several student projects have been confirmed.

While many such projects are expected to be carried out around Texas, those being conducted out of state are more challenging logistically and involve more planning and related endeavors so university officials are more aware of them, officials note.

At Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, students will spend the week doing cave restoration and working to preserve endangered plant and wildlife species.

Animal lovers will volunteer at Animal Rescue of New Orleans to care for mistreated or disabled animals as well as assisting with tasks that aid in the day-to-day running of the animal shelter.

“I loved working with the animals every day,” says Hazel Lopez, one of the Aggie volunteers last year. “Being able to care for these animals was amazing.”

In Memphis, students will volunteer with Living, Lands & Water where they will explore large parts of the Mississippi River, cleaning up the area along the way and learning about the importance of maintaining such a crucial environment.

Also in Memphis, another group of volunteers will work at Mid-South Food Bank to help out underprivileged families.

“It was the most meaningful spring break I have ever had because I was helping impoverished communities. I was really motivated to help others just from seeing how the other wonderful volunteers worked in the Food Bank,” says Cristina Pizano, one of the Aggies making the trip to Memphis last year.

To learn more about children with special needs, Aggie volunteers will go to Variety’s Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children in Killeen. Volunteers will help with retreat’s Environmental Education Program by running various activities with the children as well as helping with ongoing projects.

Rachael Cadena, a campus minister at St. Mary’s Catholic Center, an Aggie Catholic student organization, says each year the students go on mission trips to the mountains of Honduras where they will work with a group called the Missioners of Christ. They will help with many different projects that are basically helping the poor in Honduras. They also will join other Christian student groups from different colleges and universities working in the area. They travel to a number of small villages offering whatever help is needed.

The Aggie Catholics also go to Houston to work with different organizations. In the past few years these organizations have included Habitat for Humanity, Medical Bridges and The Beacon and Target Hunger Pantry.

Cadena says still other Aggies will join groups participating in a medical mission to Guatemala.

Memorial Student Center (MSC) Freshman Leadership International will take a group of freshmen volunteers to the Texas A&M Soltis Research Center in Costa Rica for five days. While they are there, the students provide service work at the Soltis Center on a variety of environmental projects ongoing in the rainforest.

Other Aggies, individually and in groups, will work with churches, community action agencies and charities as they live out the university’s core values of leadership, excellence, integrity and selfless service.