Students from the Graduate College of Social Work spent time assisting children in the Greater New Orleans area during Spring Break.
“You can’t knock it until you try it. I’ve done a lot of mission trips in a religious capacity. I’ve always wanted to do an ‘alternative Spring Break,’” said graduate student and Instructional Assistant for Leadership Development Courtney Reynolds, who organized the trip.
“Making an impact and seeing the difference on just one person’s face is way worth it. Yes, there are other things I can do, but those things can wait.”
Reynolds and the group worked in conjunction with Head Start, a program that provides educational and health services to children of low-income families.
“Most ‘alternative Spring Breaks’ consist of building and cleaning up things.
“I was surprised how much this group wanted to work with more of a person-to-person capacity,” said Reynolds.
Some of the activities included work projects every morning at the schools and tutoring in the afternoons. The group also took one afternoon off to explore the culture of New Orleans.
New Orleans was one of several cities that were selected for this project. Reynolds said New Orleans was a very attractive place for the participants to go because of the early-childhood education. The only requirement for the trip was that the students should be completely invested in helping the children.
“We just put out what we were doing. People who were passionate applied for it. We didn’t have to use any gimmicks or anything like that. If we can get students who are passionate about it without any gimmicks, I think that says a lot.”
Reynolds plans to continue “alternative Spring Breaks” every year in even bigger cities.