UC s Spring Break Takes Students Around the World, Including Service in Haiti

An adventure blending sun and fun over spring break is a longtime college tradition. But dozens of University of Cincinnati students are planning trips to destinations affected by earthquakes, hurricanes and mudslides, including two trips to the devastation in Haiti.

UC’s spring break is the week of March 21. Students in several courses will continue their academic study beyond the classroom and around the world. Others are looking ahead to some hard physical labor as they offer service in areas that are struggling to recover from natural disasters.

“I’ve never been on the typical spring break trip, but I feel like I’ve experienced so much more through my trips with Serve Beyond Cincinnati (SBC) and through helping people,” says Lindsay Long, co-president of the student service organization. Long will be leading SBC’s first trip to Haiti over spring break. “I love being on these ‘first’ trips, because we never know what to expect.”

Here’s a roundup of where UC students will be serving, studying and traveling over spring break.

UC Alternative Spring Break Trips

Serve Beyond Cincinnati Trips
Serve Beyond Cincinnati (SBC) is a UC student organization that strives to build an emerging, civic-minded generation by providing national and international service experiences for UC students. The organization founded by UC students is planning five service trips over spring break. Click here to watch a video highlighting the organization’s trips over winter break.

Balan, Haiti – Ten UC students will be working with the Fuller Center for Housing in a town just east of the capital of Port-au-Prince. “We will be building the first house in this village, a home for a family displaced by the earthquake,” says Lindsay Long, UC senior biological sciences major and SBC co-president, who is leading the trip with fellow co-president Lane Hart, a UC junior who is majoring in information systems and finance. The cost of the trip per student is approximately $1,600. Students will be departing Cincinnati on March 18 and returning on March 26.

Cosco, Peru – SBC will be making its third trip to this region in partnership with Hampy, an organization dedicated to providing service-learning experiences that support self-sustaining development projects in economically depressed areas of Peru. The students will continue their work with a school in a hillside village that was devastated by a mudslide last year. Ten UC students are planning the trip at a cost of approximately $1,800 per student. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 18 and return on March 26.

San Luis Talpa, El Salvador – Ten UC students will continue their three-year relationship of working with the Fuller Center for Housing, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide . The team will be building a home for a family in a developing community – a project they also tackled on their first trip to the region. On this trip, they are also planning a two-day adventure involving surfing lessons and exploring the village markets. The trip runs $1,500 per student. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 18 and return on March 26.

Webster Parish, La. – Twelve SBC members will be working in partnership with the Fuller Center for Housing as part of a three-year tradition of taking service-centered trips to this region. The cost of the trip is $300 per student. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

Kansas City, Mo. – As SBC takes its first trip to Missouri, 12 UC students will work with the Fuller Center for Housing and a local affiliate to build a home for a family. The cost of the trip is approximately $300 per student. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

Service Trips Organized by UC Campus Ministries

St. Monica-St.George Spring Break Mission Trips
St. Monica-St. George is offering five spring break mission trips, meant to be experiences that offer students “the opportunity to go beyond their comfort zone to serve and be served,” says Michael Schreiner, campus minister. Students will spend their break serving, praying and reflecting on their experiences as they relate to their faith. The cost of the trips run approximately $200 per student.

Savanna-la-mar, Jamaica – A group of six UC students and one UC staff member representing the St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center will travel to St. Joseph Church in the Westmoreland Parish of Jamaica. The students will visit mission parishes as they spend the week learning about the culture of Jamaica and aspects of the twinning relationship between St. Joe’s and St. Monica-St. George. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

David, Ky. – Five UC students will travel to St. Vincent Mission in Eastern Kentucky to spend the week working on home repairs, learning about the culture and history of Appalachia and learning about the effects of mountaintop removal on the geography and the people. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

St. Louis, Mo. – Six UC students and one UC staff member will join St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church in serving the needs of the neighborhood known as The Ville, the historic heart of African-American St. Louis, as well as the Jesuit parish of St. Matthew. Students will also explore the economic and social aspects of racism, as well as the power that communities have in transforming institutional injustice.  They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

Spencer, W. Va. – Five UC undergraduate students and one UC grad student will spend the week at Flatridge Farm, located in rural West Virginia. Students will be invited to immerse themselves in the culture and life of the people of Appalachia through daily reflection, communal meals and hard work, breaking down stereotypes and building community with local residents and each other. They’ll also be learning about the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the geography and the people.  They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

Chinle, Ariz. – Four UC students sill spend the week at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, a Franciscan Mission located in the Central Navajo Nation. They will work in a food bank, sort clothes and household articles for a thrift store, visit and assist elderly parishioners, plan activities with children, paint and clean and learn about the Navajo people. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 26.

Lutheran Campus Ministry at the Edge House

Biloxi, Miss. – Twenty-five students will work in partnership with Hope Community Development Agency in a region that is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The students will be rebuilding or rehabilitating housing. They are also planning a trip to the French Quarter in New Orleans that will include an overnight stay at the Lutheran/Episcopal Campus Ministry at Tulane University. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 19 and return on March 27.

UC Service Learning Trips
Service learning at UC involves reflective, educational experiences blended with service activities that foster a deeper understanding of course content and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.

Office of Student Affairs & Services, Department of Africana Studies and UC International

St. Louis du Nord, Haiti

– This UC service learning experience is themed, “Restoring Hope in Haiti.” Twenty-four students will travel to the region as part of a trip in partnership with the Northwest Haiti Mission. Students will take part in three areas of outreach: volunteering with children’s educational and athletics programs, assisting a clinic, and supporting community development. As part of their planning, a drive for everyday medical supplies is being led by trip coordinator Cheri Westmoreland – director of the McNair Scholars Program under Student Affairs and Services. The drive is collecting children’s Tylenol and Ibuprofen, anti-fungal cream, antacids and vitamins. “Even the most common everyday over-the-counter medications are lifesaving in Haiti,” says Westmoreland. The supplies are being collected at Swift Hall, Room 700. The cost of the trip per student is $1,800. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 17 and return on March 24.

College of Business

Rabinal, Guatemala – The UC College of Business and McMicken College of Arts & Sciences Romance Languages Department lead this service learning course in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala. As 20 students build a home for a family in Guatemala, they’ll practice and improve their skills in speaking Spanish while observing issues of culture, social issues and the economy. The cost per student is $1,700, which includes a $500 individual donation to Habitat for Humanity International. Students were encouraged to apply for grants from UC International and the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center to offset travel costs. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 18 and return on March 27.

University Honors Program
The University Honors Program is comprised of the top five percent of UC’s undergraduate students. University Honors focuses on unique and challenging academic and hands-on experiences that reflect the themes of community engagement, global study, leadership, research and the creative arts.

Flatgap, Ky. – Twenty-three students will explore Appalachian culture while working with the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) to build or rehabilitate homes for underserved residents as part of this University Honors Program service-learning experience. They’ll be spending the night in barracks-style cabins with bunk-beds. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 20 and return on March 26. Students who complete the spring break as an honors experience – with additional Honors readings and reflection – will receive a $150 grant from the Honors program. The cost of the trip amounts to $300 per student.

Study Abroad Academic Programs

UC International Programs provided $23,575 in grants to students and $1,123 to faculty for spring break programs.

College of Business

London, United Kingdom – Twenty-nine of UC’s Kolodzik Business Scholars will explore financial and real estate management in the European Union. The program aims to help students build an understanding of the skills and knowledge needed to manage corporate strategy, finance and real estate in the European Union. As a global center for finance, London offers an exceptional learning opportunity. Students will develop skills in navigating a foreign setting, sensitivity to cultural differences and greater awareness of their own cultural make-up. Visits include lectures at University of Cambridge and the corporate headquarters of Unilever in London. The cost of the trip per student is $1,800, offset by $100 per student furnished by CoB International Programs. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 17 and return on March 26.

Paris and Nantes, France

– Ten MBA students will gain a perspective on doing business in Europe and will also examine French culture. Students will visit a variety of industries including GE and L’Oreal, as well as visit historic sites such as Mont. St. Michel, the Normandy beaches and the Chateaux of the Loire Valley. As they visit Nantes, they’ll participate in classes with CoB’s partner institution –  Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management – participating in classes in change management and European management. The trip also emphasizes corporate social responsibility. The cost per student is $1,000 plus airfare. Students depart Cincinnati on March 17 and return on March 25.

Querétaro, Mexico – The UC College of Business joins Tecnológico de Monterrey to offer a four-credit-hour international business elective for 15 students. They’ll learn about doing business across NAFTA through company visits, classes and meetings with managers. Students also will stay with host families to become more familiar with Mexican culture. The group departs Cincinnati on March 19 and returns on March 27. The cost of the trip per student is $1,400.

University Honors Program

Moscow, Russia – Eleven students will travel to Russia to experience firsthand the scenery they’ve imagined as part of their winter seminar, “Russia’s 1812: History and Myth in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.” The course, led by Willard Sunderland, associate professor of history, is exploring the meaning of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia through Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel. Students will tour Moscow, Smolensk, the battlefield of Borodina, Tula, and Yasnaya Poliana, Tolstoy’s estate in central Russia, where he wrote “War and Peace.” The cost of the trip is $2,800 per student, with each student trip offset by an $800 grant from the University Honors Program. Students will depart Cincinnati on March 18 and return on March 25.

Florence and Rome, Italy – Twenty-four students are planning to visit sites such as the Vatican, Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace, Cathedral Duomo and Baptistery, Brancacci Chapel and San Lorenzo Bascillica as they further explore the winter seminar, “Music, Art and Thought in Medici Florence.” Students are studying the political, economic, artistic and cultural forces that gave rise to Florence as a unique center of Renaissance humanism. The trip will be led by Stephanie Schlagel, associate professor of musicology. The cost of the trip is $2,800 per student. Each student is receiving an $800 grant from the University Honors Program to offset the cost. They’ll depart Cincinnati on March 18 and return on March 26.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching names UC among 115 American colleges and universities for its 2010 Community Engagement Classification. The foundation issued the announcement earlier this year, naming UC among 35 research intensive universities to receive the classification.