Alternative Breaks: An Immersive Learning Experience

The Alternative Breaks program at East Tennessee State University offers a unique and immersive experience for students to engage in direct service and education around pressing social issues. These student-led and -developed trips take participants in and outside of the region, allowing them to tackle critical concerns, such as poverty, youth development, and environmental sustainability facing communities across the United States. Rooted in hands-on service and social justice, these initiatives provide opportunities for students to go beyond the classroom and immerse themselves in purposeful experiences aimed at fostering personal growth and community connection.

This year, one Alternative Break experience at ETSU saw a group of students serving in New Orleans, Louisiana. Students engaged in education and youth development efforts while partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Louisiana.

Upon returning to ETSU, participants are equipped with heightened awareness and a renewed commitment to addressing parallel concerns within their community, embodying the university's mission to improve the quality of life for the people of the region and beyond.

Video Transcript

Reagan Sparks:
It's not that I have to go on this Alt. Break, it's that I get to go on this Alt. Break and serve others.

Dr. Scott Jenkinson:
An Alternative Break experience at ETSU is an opportunity for students to leave campus and go explore a location in the United States in which they identify a particular topic. They go to that location, explore that topic, understand it, live it for a week if you will, and then they come back to ETSU with the intention of becoming a more active citizen.

Taylor Cooper:
So we are in New Orleans, Louisiana this week and we are on an Alternative Spring Break. We're coming down here to work with the Boys & Girls Club in Slidell. Whenever you come to college you've got this four to five year area there where you're working and you're pursuing a degree. There's often times where you take those classes and you're like, "What is that going to look like whenever I apply them?" All of those things I learned in the classroom I'm actually getting to apply while I'm here. And I feel like to know yourself really has to be to serve other people.

Reagan Sparks:
I know it might seem like you're giving up your break, but it's such a rewarding experience for you and the communities you're serving.

Dr. Scott Jenkinson:
Critical reflection provides the opportunity for our students to pause and really work on why this experience matters. We have a tendency to look at the big, bright and shiny things that exist, but I think that the most change-inducing experiences that I have while I'm here are small, tiny little things.

Monica Scott:
The mission of our organization is to enable young people to become productive, responsible, and caring citizens. I think it's important to expose children to young adults that are making positive changes in their life. I just think the energy that these students have brought this particular trip will be something that will have a life-lasting impact on our kids.

Members of the Slidell Boys & Girls Club:
Thank you, ETSU!

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East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.