Ursinus College students are trading beaches for both community service and academics during the upcoming spring break.
The Alternative Spring Break has become so important to students that they are willing to raise much of the money for the trip. Undaunted by lack of funds, 20 students are running bake sales, coin drives and soliciting friends, family and faculty for the chance to build houses with Habitat for Humanity in Danville, Va., March 9-15.
Community service is what motivated Carol Bohny 2003, the coordinator of the group, but she has discovered she really likes to build houses. "This year will be my fourth Alternative Spring Break trip, and I'm truly looking forward to it," said Bohny, of Hawthorne, N.J. "As a freshman, my experience on the trip was incredible. That year we put up an entire house in the one-week period that we spent in Virginia, and we formed bonds that still have not broken. I've continued to participate because I discovered that I have a passion for building as well as for community service. In addition to being able to see a marked difference in the home by the end of the week, it is sincerely gratifying to speak with the owners of those homes and know that you have made an impression in their lives."
The interest in community service among Ursinus students and others is part of a trend in which student activism is more personal and is done on a more grassroots level than in the past, believes John Strassburger, President of the college. "What has impressed me is the commitment of so many of our students to service," he said. "Students may be more cynical about politics than my generation was, but at the same time far more of them are committed to making a real difference, like tutoring, befriending mentally challenged individuals or Alternative Spring Break."
Another group of Ursinus students will be presenting their academic research at a prestigious annual conference March 13 through March 15 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. They are among the outstanding students who are permitted to undertake yearlong independent or honors research for academic credit related to the student's major, and work one-on-one with a faculty member. Among the 14 Ursinus presentations at the national conference are "The disintegration of the Old South: William Faulkner's Compson Family," presented by Rachel Swymer 2003; "Olfactory Neural Cell Development in Zebrafish," presented by Theresa Moser 2003; and ":Financial Statement Reliability: The Role of the Audit Committee," by Charles Pulsfort 2003.
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