UTSA Volunteer Services will sponsor the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips this year to New Orleans, Louisiana and Piedras Negras, Mexico, by sending teams of college students to provide perform volunteer services.

Designed to immerse students in diverse environments they otherwise would have no contact with, the program allows students to help with social and environmental issues such as poverty, hunger, homelessness, and natural disasters.

ASB students and advisors will spend March 11 through March 17 rebuilding homes for Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge Program.

For the first time, ASB will sponsor a second trip outside the country to Piedras Negras, Mexico, March 12 through March 16. This team will work with a children's orphanage.

Each ASB team consists of ten students and a minimum of two advisors. Students in good academic standing are accepted to the program upon application review and interview. Participants are bussed to the destination site and provided with lodging.

Initiated by the volunteer service organization for students, V.O.I.C.E.S, the ASB program has been opened to UTSA students since 1993. As the program grew, it fell under the management of UTSA's Volunteer Services.

"Alternative spring break programs have started to become a trend across the country," Sharis Slocum, volunteer services coordinator, said. "Just this past year, the program [really] took off at UTSA."

Each year, alternative spring break programs nation wide bring tremendous volunteer help to distressed communities in the U.S. and abroad. Organizations like BreakAway.org set up these trips for high schools and colleges across the country.

"It will open doors to students to the world beyond UTSA. It's a chance for students to get to know the community and interact with folks that have lost things. It gives them a chance to be grateful and teaches them how to give back," Slocum said. "It gives them a new perspective."

Participants such as Christine LeBlanc agree.

"When you do an Alternative Spring Break you become apart of that community; that's what's so neat about it. The type of experience you learn there is one you can't find in the classroom," she said. "You go into an environment that you wouldn't normally go into, and you experience it and see what people see. You get a deeper sense of community,"

LeBlanc went to New Orleans with the team last spring break, six months after Hurricane Katrina hit. LeBlanc's duties included maintaining the camp, preparing food and cleaning houses of debris and waste.

"I think anyone who's interested in service or who has done volunteer work before definitely should do it because it takes your sense of service to a new level," she said.

"It opens your eyes a lot and makes you a more well-rounded person."

A biology major, who now works in medical research, LeBlanc said ASB made her realize she wanted to use her background to work with the underserved population.

Slocum points out that the ASB experience can have derivative benefits. Working in construction and in teams helps build experience for majors in engineering, psychology, communication, education, and humanities. It can build valuable skills for any degree background.

Other universities with ASB programs in Texas include UT Austin, UT Dallas, Texas A&M, Rice University, and in San Antonio, Our Lady of the Lake University are all members of the national non-profit ASB organization which provide and support alternative community spring break programs to colleges and universities across the country.