Alternative Spring Break
These types of experiences are no less crucial than classroom learning in enhancing education and building character.
Spring break is over, and the campus is bustling once again. Some of our students spent the week in Florida and Utah, but not for fun and games. Those are two of the four locations for alternative spring breaks, where our students worked to better the lives of others. In the process, they enriched their own lives and broadened their perspectives.
In Key West, Fla., they cultivated a community garden to feed low-income residents. In Moab, Utah, they built straw-bale houses - a model of energy efficiency - for needy families. They also went to McClellanville, S.C., and Milwaukee, Wis. Each trip had two student leaders and one faculty adviser, with training for participants before and after break to ensure that they get the most value out of this experience.
Our efforts have won attention from Break Away, a nonprofit organization that supports alternative spring break programs. Last year, the co-directors of Break Away praised the "incredible work being done" by Old Dominion. Our program, they said, "engages students in powerful service that shapes their civic identities and contributes to communities around the country."
The directors of Break Away made another important point: Old Dominion undergraduates play a key role in shaping these programs, deepening their education and leadership skills. "Students are at the helm of program planning now more than ever before," they said.
The programs have changed our students' values and career paths.
Candis Collins spent spring break last year volunteering at a children's organization in Miami. After she graduated from Old Dominion, she took a job with Youth Villages, an organization that helps troubled children in Memphis.
Last year Matt Fitzpatrick helped fix homes ravaged by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Among the lessons he gained from the experience: "I learned not to take things for granted anymore." This year Matt served as the programming chairman for alternative spring break. He has also participated in other service activities, included processing clothing donations at Union Mission Ministries.
Matt typifies our commitment to service, which extends far beyond spring break. Old Dominion students logged more than 500,000 hours during the 2014-15 school year, with a total value of $12.5 million. For four years in a row, Old Dominion has been included in the U.S. President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
Before our students left for break, I renewed my challenge to them to complete 85 hours of community service during the school year as a fitting way to commemorate the university's 85th anniversary.
They will have plenty of opportunities in coming weeks. On April 15 and 16, they will participate in an overnight Relay for Life fund-raiser - the largest philanthropic event on campus - at the Student Recreation Center to fight cancer.
The following Saturday, April 23, they will join the Virginia BioBlitz to celebrate Earth Day. In such areas as the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, they will catalog plants and animals that they observe to create a "species inventory" for the state.
These types of experiences are no less crucial than classroom learning in enhancing education and building character.
What the Greek philosopher Aristotle said more than 2,300 years ago also holds true today: "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."
