Canning Cancun: Students Spend Spring Break Hard at Work

This spring break, while some students were busy working on their tans or watching daytime talk shows, a handful of students demolished old homes, tutored children, worked at homeless shelters, did yard work or helped run a vice presidential motorcade, among other things.

"I didn't get a tan and I didn't get blasted in Cancun, but I had a blast," says Brendan G. Conway '00, a government concentrator in Leverett House who interned with the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C, through the Harvard College Internship Program (HCIP).

Why might students elect to spend a mid-semester vacation doing hard physical or mental labor?

"You learn a lot. Everyone got to use power tools and sledge hammers," says Samuel Esquith '00, co-director of Habitat for Humanity, a program under the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA).

Others say they gained experience that could not be obtained in the lecture hall.

"I got to see first hand what happens in a humanitarian effort [and] find out more about the international human law surrounding the Kosovo conflict," Conway says. "It's something that really doesn't come through in class."

Susan Arnott, coordinator of the Radcliffe College Spring Break Externship Program, says alternative spring breaks also provide the opportunity to examine potential plans for the future.

"For some students it's a really good way for them to see whether the career they have in mind is good for them," she says.

Colleen M. Gargan '02 says one of the biggest advantages of the alternative spring break is the minimal time commitment.

"It was only a week, so it was a little taste. It helped me decide what I might want to do with my life," she says.

But don't think every minute of the alternative spring break is spent hard at work.

"I had a blast. I got to hang out in the city. I went to museums and some clubs," says Gargan, who interned in New York City with the New Press publishing company through HCIP.

Esquith even says his time renovating houses in Baltimore was "similar to spring break on the beach."

"It's a way to have fun and meet new people," he says. "It's relaxing in the way that physical labor can be after half a semester of mental labor."

The PBHA Alternative

PBHA runs two spring break programs--Habitat for Humanity, as well as Alternative Spring Break (ASB), according to ASB director Sarah D. Kalloch '00.

Kalloch says the 24 students participating in ASB this year traveled in PBHA vans to their two destinations--Cumberland, Md. and Big Ugly Creek, W.Va.

According to Kalloch, the Cumberland group worked with an organization called the Interfaith Consortium which buys run-down houses, renovates them, and then puts them up for rental at an affordable cost. The 13 students in Cumberland, whose trip lasted from Sunday to Friday, helped with this renovation process.

In Big Ugly Creek, 11 students renovated a community center, tutored children, and learned about educational, labor and environmental issues from community leaders, Kalloch said.

According to former ASB director Jennifer A. Burney '99, ASB was founded in 1991 with the dual mission of "giving people something to do" and "promoting cultural awareness and community service over spring break."

Kalloch says ASB has made previous visits to Cumberland and "Big Ugly" to "create real and lasting connections with the community" and to "get to know the social, economic and political issues in the community."

Like ASB, Habitat for Humanity sent out two groups, with eight people traveling to Washington, D.C. and seven to Baltimore.

In Baltimore, Esquith says participants "renovated old...houses in a tough neighboorhood," demolishing and putting up new walls and floors. Esquith says Habitat arranged for their lodging at a church.

Esquith says he thinks people chose to spend their break doing demolition work because "it was cheap and you're helping people."

But, Esquith says, the Baltimore group did spend some time vacationing, going to a concert and visiting Washington, D.C.

OCS Has Empty Slots

According to Associate Director of the Office of Career Services (OCS) Nancy Saunders, who runs the Harvard Career Internships Program, the program is 15 years old and was the "initiative of a subcommittee of the Harvard Alumni Association human resources committee."

Saunders says the Alumni Association "felt students needed the opportunity to get a broader perspective of prospective professions while they were undergrads." She added that it is "a good opportunity for alumni to interact with undergrads."

Over the years the program has expanded to include internship opportunities not only with alumni, but also with friends of the Harvard community.

This year the program offered more than 90 internships in the U.S. and Canada and placed 68 interns--about 70 percent of the applicants were accepted.

Saunders says not all internships were filled because of a lower number of applicants, and also because "in some cases, there were more than 30 applications for one internship. But when they didn't get it, they didn't apply to others."

Students submit a resume and cover letter to OCS, then the office either forwards them to the sponsor for evaluation or selects the intern itself.

Saunders says that despite advertising, getting the word out has been difficult.

She calls the number of applicants "disappointing," and says "the allure of warm beaches and cold slopes appears to prevent us from achieving a higher placement rate."

Saunders offers the good economy as another possible reason for students staying away.

"In a very good economy, students are less concerned about spending the first five days of spring break in a career-learning opportunity because they feel confident they will move into a summer job or full time job effortlessly," she says.

Hanging With the VP

Six students spent part of their break on the 13-stop, two-day New Hampshire tour of Vice President Al Gore '69. They organized the motorcade and the overnight arrangements for the staff, and also drove cars in the motorcade.

Marc Stad '01 says he got this opportunity by being part of the advance team which organized Gore's trip to Manchester, N.H., the first of his campaign. He was asked to return to help with another trip.

Stad acted as the RON (Remain Over Night), and was in charge of the staff's overnight stay and distributing a list of news events for the day.

Luther G. Williams '00 was charged with organizing the motorcade, getting cars and drivers, directing drivers and overseeing security for the cars.

"It was a lot of thinking on your feet," says Williams.

Stad says his job was very logistical and he was struck by the amount of responsibility he had.

"It's phenomenal that 19-year-old sophomores in college could take on this responsibility," he says.

Stad says that at the end of the week, when Gore walked off Air Force II, he gave Stad and the other students a high five and a thank you.

"He's really energetic and personable," says Stad.

However students spend spring break, it seems there is always an element of relaxation. But alternative spring breakers have the opportunity to do some volunteering and learning, as well as lounging, during their week away from classes.

As Stad puts it, the various programs allow for students to gain an experience which he calls "stepping back from the theoretical and getting into the practical."