Spring break has become synonymous with drunken partying. Fortunately, for college students who want their spring vacations to be a more meaningful experience, alternative spring break trips offer the opportunity to perform volunteer work throughout the world.

1. Alternative
Spring Breaks
by Tory Reiss

2. Spring break has become synonymous with
drunken partying. Fortunately, for college
students who want their spring vacations to be
a more meaningful experience, alternative
spring break trips offer the opportunity to
perform volunteer work throughout the world.

3. On college campuses across America,
organizations formally called Alternative Spring
Break bring like-minded students together to
plan a one-week trip for spring vacation. The
trips focus on service-oriented tasks, such as
house-building in Jamaica, animal
conservation in Mexico, or community work in
Morocco. Participants spend their days
volunteering and their evenings relaxing and
enjoying the local life. Not only have alternative
spring break trips provided me with some of
the most incredible travel experiences of my
life, but they have birthed lifelong friendships
and priceless leadership experience.

4. If there is no Alternative Spring Break
organization on your college campus, an
alternative spring break is still an option. There
are a number of organizations that work with
individual volunteers. Cross-Cultural Solutions
offers international trips, while United Way
provides volunteering opportunities across the
United States.

5. Participating in alternative spring breaks is a
worthy cause, but it is also a smart move for a
young college student. Having that on your
resume shows potential employers that you
spend your time wisely rather than frivolously.

6. About Tory Reiss
In June 2012 Tory Reiss graduated from
Northwestern University. He worked as a
summer associate in 2011 at Coca-Cola
Refreshments in Denver, Colorado. Reiss
was a trip leader of two alternative spring
break excursions to Argentina and Brazil
in 2012 and 2009, respectively.