Unlike the vast majority of students around the country, Aisha Woodward '08 opted to spend her Spring Break helping underprivileged grade schoolers in New York City as part of Bowdoin's Alternate Spring Break (ASB) program. CBS news, inspired by Bowdoin College students' initiative, invited Woodward and her trip co-leader Jamie Knight '07 to be interviewed live about the experience.
"[The interviewer] asked us why we would want to go here instead of someplace like Cancun," Woodward said.
Three full weeks after this year's six ASB trips returned home, trip members are starting to think about ways their service in other communities worldwide can be brought back to Bowdoin.
Michelle Chan '06, one of the leaders of the Thailand trip, said she was greatly affected by the conversations she had with women in the sex trade.
"It definitely challenged my own personal beliefs about the sex trade, in a good way," said Chan. "I definitely want to continue being involved."
Student participants were given the opportunity to come together and reflect on their unique experiences, as well as consider future opportunities for service at an exhibit in Smith Union featuring photographs from the trips.
The exhibit, entitled "Perspectives," features pictures and reflections mounted on the wall outside of Lamarche Lounge, as well as an ongoing slideshow with images from the six ASB destinations?Guatemala, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York City, Peru, and Thailand.
At the exhibit's opening reception on Tuesday, students who did not go on the trips were given the opportunity to view what had been a reality to many of their classmates by seeing photographs and reading statements describing the people and places encountered on the trips. The powerful words of one trip member's first reaction to meeting a sex worker in Thailand demonstrated how the trip has affected her personally.
"I realized that if I were born in another place and time, she could be me," wrote AmeriCorps VISTA Sarah Mountcastle.
Mike Taylor '07, a student on the trip to Peru, said that participating in an ASB trip was a much more rewarding experience than most service he had done in the past.
"It's so much more than writing a check," he said. "I can tell you with certainty that everyone who went on a trip was changed."
This year, more trips went out than ever before, to locations both within and beyond the United States.
One group traveled to Mississippi to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.
"Looking back on what we'd done throughout the week, we were able to see how much we'd accomplished," said trip member Tim Bourassa '08.
Another volunteer from the Mississippi trip, Claudia Paz '08, said the experience "gave us a greater appreciation of Southern culture." Some of the Southern culture they encountered, however, was not friendly.
The members of the Mississippi ASB trip quickly became acquainted with the term NIMBY?Not In My Back Yard?a sentiment expressed by Southerners who supported Habitat for Humanity, as long as it wasn't in their own neighborhood.
"It just shows how some people are scared of low-income housing," said Bourassa.
Bourassa said that of all the experiences he brings back to Bowdoin, the most significant is "a better understanding of the poverty that is still in America."
In Guatemala, students helped out at Safe Passage, an education center for the children that live at the Guatemala City garbage dump. Jake Stevens '08 talked about the impact the children made on him.
"It's so hard to remember where they come from," Stevens said. "They seem happy, but the background they come from isn't so happy."
"It makes you aware of how wasteful America is," he added.
Alicia Velez '08 had a similar experience in Guatemala. "Everything looks OK...then you see where they live," she said.
Other students went to Peru to learn about rural poverty in a developing nation.
"[At the end of the trip], we were told we would be given a gift, a surprise from the community," Taylor said. "A few of the older women did a traditional dance, and everyone started dancing. It was an amazing collision of cultures. Tears were shed. That really changed my perspective."
Taylor said that the experience changed him.
"I haven't been able to live the same life," he said.
To address growing public health problems in Native-American reservations, another group of students traveled to New Mexico. For Meaghan Kennedy '06, the hospitality the Bowdoin students were met with took her aback.
"They were just so generous and welcoming," said Kennedy, who is determined to share her experiences with others back at Bowdoin.
"We want to increase awareness. There are many medical, social, and educational issues that Native Americans are facing and a lot of people aren't aware of it," she said.