For several years, Bowdoin has been offering Alternative Spring Break service trips for students. Last Thursday, 40 students gathered to listen to Jordan Browning '08 and David Wagoner-Edwards '08 talk about their plans for spring vacation?an alternative Alternative Spring Break service trip.
Fifteen students will go with Browning and Wagoner-Edwards to Boriqua Farm, a week-long trip to work on an 50-acre organic farm and serve in a rural community in Puerto Rico.
A College-supported ASB trip worked on the organic farm in March of this year. Browning and Wagoner-Edwards, who went on the ASB trip, filed a proposal to go back because they felt the trip "had been so successful."
But after the Community Service Resource Center (CSRC) declined to support their proposal, Browning and Wagoner-Edwards decided to plan and run their self-titled Alternative Alternative Spring Break trip on their own, without the structure and support?or the restrictions?of an school-sanctioned ASB trip.
"We're stoked that we have the freedom to do what we want to do this time?no bureaucracy, no checking in," Wagoner-Edwards said.
In an interview, Susan Dorn, the director for CSRC, explained the reasons for having students engage in frequent "check-ins" on ASB trips.
"The check-ins are for an educational purpose; many students are in really poor communities and it's really uncomfortable for some students," Dorn said. "Any check-ins we do are to help students reflect on their experience."
Dorn was enthusiastic about Browning and Wagoner-Edwards planning their own service trip. "I think it's great," she said.
"I'd love to accept all trips," Dorn said, but, because the CSRC's resources are limited, the ASB committee?composed of CSRC staff, College faculty and students?had "a difficult decision to make."
In the end, the committee could only support six out of the 10 ASB trips that were proposed for 2008, Dorn explained. Trips are selected "based upon a wide selection criteria," including the strength of the community service partner, the strength of the student leaders and each trip's intended geographic location.
"If there were a way to have more programs, of course that would be great," Dorn said, but added that she is pleased with the extent of the ASB program already in place.
For ASB trips, the CSRC provides logistical support, weekly training for trip leaders and "need-blind scholarship support," Dorn said.
But, according to Browning, the support that the CSRC provides to ASB trips can have the effect of "reducing students to dependent travelers." With their trip to Boriqua, Browning and Wagoner-Edwards want everyone to have a part in planning and running the trip. They believe that their increased freedom will help make the trip more effective for the students on it, but also for the community they are helping.
"I feel like more freedom is excellent for us," Wagoner-Edwards said. "We'll have the freedom to switch up things the day of a trip?to be more flexible in our service."
"And," Wagoner-Edwards added, "I think people [on the trip] will get more out of it by this program being a little more interactive" than a College-sponsored ASB program, "making it how they want to make it."
"It feels more like our project; it's more gratifying that way," Browning said.
The two seniors hope that this trip will be the first of many student-led service projects to Boriqua Farm.
"I want this trip to continue in future years," Wagoner-Edwards said. "We're hoping to build a legacy with this trip and, more than that, build student-led Alternative Alternative Spring Break as a concept."