Welcome to the home of the Penn State Berks Alternative Spring Break Program! The goal of this program is to inspire servant leadership, cultural immersion, and global citizenship in all of our student participants. We hope this will expand through each of our students’ circles of influence. The program utilizes the servant leadership model, along with active engagement and discussion to allow students to better understand global issues, cultures, and how they present themselves as agents of change.
“The servant-leader is a servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is a leader first.”- Robert Greenleaf
The Alternative Spring Break program at Penn State Berks features several components:
- Consideration: This component occurs prior to submitting an application. Students are encouraged to attend information sessions, discuss their financial resources with their support system, and review their academic plans. During information sessions, students will be encouraged to vote on the upcoming service themes.
- Voting for themes is typically done during the Spring Semesters.
- Application & Interview: Students will be encouraged to submit an application, and if the interest is higher than the program is able to accommodate, an interview process will take place. The leaders are looking for a range of experiences that will contribute to deeper learning for all that participate, this includes year in school, experience with service, and knowledge about the topics that will be covered.
- Logistics: During the Fall semester, students will meet at least once per month. These meetings will be spent reviewing the logistics of the trip, including necessary steps that students will need to take to ensure their safety and ability to travel. Additionally, to ensure that students are able to travel comfortably, time will be spent providing students with the opportunity to get to know each other.
- Fundraising: Much of the fundraisers for the Alternative Spring Break trip will be decided over the summer by the Assistant Director of Community Development. However, if students have additional fundraising ideas, they are welcomed and encouraged. Some of our more successful fundraisers have been ornament sales, a Guided Paint Nights at Busy Bee’s, and some local business fundraisers.
- Class: In the Spring semester, students will be enrolled in a 2 credit course. This allows the opportunity for students to be better prepared for the culture in which they will be immersed, the service that will be done, and provide additional opportunities to learn from and get to know each other.
- Spring Break: During the break, students will travel to their destination. Time will not only be spent serving the communities, but also in interacting with local organizations to better understand the need for the service, in an effort to avoid volun-tour-ism. We work with a Fair Trade Learning organization, Amizade to coordinate many of the details to ensure that all funding raised and spent on the trips will ultimately leave the communities that we work with better than we left them.
- The Return: After we return, there are still several weeks of classes for students. This time will be spent processing their experience, as well as brainstorming ways that they can bring what they learned back to the Penn State Berks and Berks county community.
For more information about this year’s trip, upcoming information sessions, or Alternative Spring Break in general, contact:
Autumn Fritz
Assistant Director of Community Development
amr40@psu.edu
610-396-6098
Office of Campus Life
610-396-6076
To follow our efforts and journey on Social Media:
Instagram: @psubkasb
Facebook: PSU Berks Alternative Spring Break