Alternative Spring Break Program

Alternative Spring Break Program 2010: Women’s Service in the City

Some Saint Mary’s students bypassed the sandy beaches and warmer weather of customary spring break locales this week to participate in an intensive six-day experience in the Alternative Spring Break Program sponsored by the Office for Civic and Social Engagement (OCSE). In partnership with the Indianapolis Peace Institute, the program highlights social issues and provides students with opportunities for hands-on service. “The only major goal I have is heightened awareness of social issues and some of the ways these issues affect individual lives,” says OCSE director Carrie Call. “If these young women come out of this experience with greater compassion and a greater sense of their own responsibility for making a difference, then I’d say we have surpassed our goal!”

Students will be involved in a number of activities including worshipping and working with the Sisters of Providence; performing a variety of service projects at organizations they’ll be visiting; providing a day of service at a center that provides after school care to neighborhood children; and meeting with various agency representatives to discuss issues covering domestic violence, human trafficking, women in the criminal justice system, and homelessness. They’ll also attend a networking event, Positive Movement, with Girls Inc., and the Mothers-Daughters program at La Plaza, a movement promoting higher education for young Latinas in Indianapolis. Before the break, students participated in the campus-wide Hygiene Drive for Women, collecting feminine hygiene products for the Indiana Women’s Prison.

Kate Williams ’07 , special projects coordinator for the Indianapolis Peace Institute, will be hosting the students at the Peace House. The living arrangement for the week will provide a “unique community experience,” for the students who will be cooking their meals together and engaging in reflection sessions as a group, says Call who cites reasons why a trip of this nature is so important. “This trip gives them a window into some of the most pressing social issues we face today,” says Call. “The trip provides them with a unique way of learning about some of those issues, reflecting on them, and then finding ways to respond.” Serving others is also a factor. “We have consistently found that engaging in service work allows students to feel that they can actually make a difference in people’s lives,” says Call.