Fourteen people, two vans, one week of service that “changes your life.” This is how Stephanie Mieczkowski, junior in LAS, has spent three of her spring breaks.

Mieczkowski is the external relations chair for the Alternative Spring Break program. ASB offers 17 spring break trips, making it one of the nation’s largest alternative break programs, according to their website. ASB offers service trips during fall, winter and summer breaks to destinations across the U.S. 

The first trip Mieczkowski went on was to Miami. After about 21 hours of driving from central Illinois to southern Florida, they spent four days with “Children of Inmates,” a Miami-based organization that helps children and their parents behind bars.

Mieczkowski and her teammates visited the prison, talked to the inmates and recorded the inmates reading children’s books. These recordings and the books would later be given to the children of the inmates as a message from their parents. 

“It’s really sweet,” Mieczkowski said. “It is a way to keep the connection strong between the children and their parents in prison.”

The trips that ASB offers touch on a wide range of social issues: environmental concerns, civil rights, social justice and others.

“The purpose of our trip is education,” said Grace Kyung, graduate student in AHS and co-director of ASB. “We want students to learn about these social issues, get something out of it and bring it back to the local community.” 

Another invaluable asset ASB has to offer is friendship. The teammates for each particular trip are assigned according to their preference in the application, and in most cases they don’t know each other prior to the trip.

Nevertheless, a 21-hour road trip is long enough to break the ice and open their hearts.

“We came together for this common cause of volunteering,” Mieczkowski said. “Just being in that close space for that long, we were bound to play games, share stories. … The group dynamic was amazing.”

Kyung agreed with ASB’s power to help connect with people you’ve never met but share commonality because of the preference of the trip.

“Almost all of my close college friends are through ASB,” Kyung said. “You will always find a few people from the trip that you’ll stay friends with.”

ASB is an alcohol- and drug-free program. The policy is set to meet the legality and practicality of the trip, but Mieczkowski thinks the policy also carries a symbolic meaning.

“For some of the social justice issues we are dealing with, (the organizations) themselves have people who are struggling with things like alcoholism and drug addiction,” Miezckowski said. “It would be hypocritical for us to volunteer while going there hungover.”  

The total cost of a spring trip is $325 per person, and applicants receive a $50 discount if they are 21 or older and volunteer to be a driver. 

Currently, ASB is still looking for three more drivers for the spring trips. Anyone interested can go to their website, www.illinoisasb.org, to learn more and apply.

“We hope these trips would cause a ripple effect (for the students), and change lives in the future,” Kyung said.

Xing can be reached at [email protected].