A look at this year’s Alternative Spring Break and what it is they did.

Nine girls, packed into a Southern Vermont College van, pull up to The Little Gunpowder Farm in Monkton, MD, unaware of what kind of work they will encounter. After a tour with the owners, Kristie and Connor, the group gets excited for their day ahead. Moving the chicken coop, laying row covers on old plants, planting new crops in the greenhouse, and harvesting carrots give the group an experience of what manual labor is like, as well as contributing to help a bigger cause.

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a program where college students spend their spring break doing community service. Most colleges and universities, across the country, have ASB programs. The trip is designed so that the students get to have fun while giving back to the community, in any way they can.

Eight students and one resident director traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, to work with multiple different service organizations. Joining SVC resident director, Shannon Schmutz, for the ride are students: Emily Freling (Class of 2016), BryAnn Hoover (Class of 2016), Shayla Thomas (Class of 2017), Shelby Whitman (Class of 2017), Cheyenne Darcy Amaya (Class of 2018), Bridget Cain (Class of 2018), Morgan Kaeppel (Class of 2019), and Shea Robinson (Class of 2019).

They volunteered at Maryland Food Bank, Maryland Zoo, Little Gunpowder Farm, and The Ronald McDonald House.

At the Ronald McDonald House, they helped make the beds and get some rooms ready for families coming in. They helped package food that would ultimately be distributed at The Maryland Food Bank. And helped the maintenance crew at The Maryland Zoo, helping the zoo look nice for all the visitors.

Back row, left-to-right: BryAnne Hoover, Morgan Kaeppel, Shayla Thomas, Shea Robinson,

Emily Freling, and Bridget Cain

Front row, left-to-right: Shannon Schmutz, Shelby Whitman, Christy Ottinger, Ruby the dog,

and Connor Horne

Photo: Christy Ottinger

ASB gives students a different kind of spring break. “It’s a lot better than going home and doing nothing. Spending my spring break doing something more helpful for others, and it’s helpful for me too because it’s a learning experience,” says Freling.

The Little Gunpowder Farm became the group’s favorite place they volunteered at that week. The farm is a part of Civic Works, and helps to provide quality produce at good prices to people in the Baltimore area. They also support Civic Work’s Mobile Farmer’s Market, a truck that brings fresh produce to areas in Baltimore that don’t have easy access to fresh produce.

Southern Vermont College has been participating in Alternative Spring Break for a while now, as well. Students, that participated this year, were asked why they decided to do ASB. “It was the idea of being able to go to a different place I’ve never been to, we give back to people, and change how they feel. How we make someone else smile,” said Darcy Amaya.

They were also asked about their expectations for the trip, and whether they received more than they expected. Thomas said, “I definitely took away more. I thought that it was just going to volunteer. Coming out of it, I realize that I actually care about feeding people, that’s a really big deal, and it’s not talked about more.”

The group worked with a couple organizations that deal with hunger and how those organizations participate in tackling hunger in the Baltimore area. The Maryland Food Bank has multiple locations, the group volunteered at their distribution location in Baltimore. “I saw how things work. So, I knew what a food bank was, but I’ve never been in one, and seen how it works,” said Freling.

Alternative Spring Break, as a whole, was a positive, eye-opening experience for the group. The trip showed the group a new way to spend their time, have fun, help others, and feel great all at the same time.

“We’re on a mission to help people. We’re here to get a job done and hopefully change other people’s lives,” Robinson stated.