KNOXVILLE — Forty-six students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will leave Sunday, March 13, for the annual Alternative Spring Break trip, an opportunity for students to serving others during their time off from college.
Attendees will gather at 7:30 a.m. in staff parking lot 25, located on Andy Holt Avenue, across from the Alan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. Vans will depart to take teams of students, graduate assistants and staff members to Alternative Spring Break locations: Biloxi, Miss., and Chicago, Ill. The volunteers will return on Saturday, March 19.
“I continue to be so very proud of this amazing program,” said Kate Humphrey, program adviser for Team VOLS. “I think that the entire UT community should take pride in the fact that so many students will be sacrificing their time off during spring break to serve those less fortunate in two very different areas of the country. These trips epitomize what it means to be a true Tennessee Volunteer, and I can’t wait to see how many lives are changed because of both trips.”
Student leaders choose destinations and build itineraries before beginning the process of selecting students to attend. The destinations are not revealed until students have been chosen through an interview process and placed in their groups — usually less than a month before the trip. Each team is led by a small group of student leaders, graduate assistants and one full-time UT staff or faculty member.
In Chicago, students will work at a Catholic mission doing renovations and tutoring local children. The students will work with senior citizens and those with special needs. They also will spend time at a food pantry and perform other service projects throughout the week.
In Biloxi, students will work at a soup kitchen and volunteer at a local church damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Teams will volunteer at the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA and an area food bank.
The University of Tennessee’s Team VOLS (Volunteer Outreach for Leadership and Service) Office, which is part of the Office of Student Activities, has sponsored Alternative Fall Break and Alternative Spring Break trips for 18 years.
Since the program began, more than 1,600 students have served through the trips.
C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely, (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)