Penn State Alternative Breaks, a program offered by the Office of Student Activities, provides a variety of opportunities for students to learn more about themselves, others, and the world around them through service. Programs include trips throughout the year, which take place over university breaks: Fall Alternative Breaks (Thanksgiving break), Alternative Winter Breaks, and Alternative Spring Breaks. In addition, fall and spring service weekend trips have been added. Each program is designed to encourage personal growth, promote civic engagement, and enrich the lives of participants by immersing them in a new community around issues of social justice.
With the expansion of Alternative Break trips, the Office of Student Activities, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, is seeking additional Learning Partners to accompany students on these exciting and interactive learning experiences. Each Alternative Break trip has one to two faculty or staff persons who attend the trip with them as a Learning Partner. These partnerships are essential to providing strong and safe learning opportunities for students. Learning Partners attend the trip at no cost and participate in daily service, education, and reflection activities. Other duties during the trip include:
- Driving a University-owned 15 passenger van or mini-van
- Signing out a University purchasing card for food and activities during the trip
- Supporting student Site Leaders with conflict resolution and difficult conversations
- Sharing any social justice knowledge about the topic students are working with
- Assisting in any emergency situations and assessing risk
- Having fun with students while learning and engaging in the community!
Penn State Alternative Breaks offers three different perspectives from past Learning Partners: a faculty member, a staff member and a graduate student.
The faculty perspective
Borja Gutiérrez, assistant teaching professor of Spanish, became involved with Alternative Breaks because it was a great opportunity to connect with students outside of the classroom, in a setting conducive to more authentic dialogue around social justice issues facing our country. These trips serve as excellent vehicles for students to learn more about poverty, racial inequities, our national housing crisis, gentrification, amongst other grave issues we face today. The students’ personal stories and their investment in the service and daily reflections inspired Gutiérrez to attend three trips as a Learning Partner in the past and is looking forward to future trips in spring 2020.
Gutiérrez elected to become a Learning Partner to help students get engaged in and excited about service learning and to increase their knowledge about current societal inequities, providing them through both the opportunity to become aware of their own agency in making social change happen.
“All faculty and staff, if possible, should take part in one of these experiences if they wish to connect with students in a totally different way than how we do so in our daily interactions with them on campus. It is a unique opportunity to share with students and to learn from them as well,” said Gutiérrez
The staff perspective
Kyle Kowal, residence life coordinator, studied leadership development but says you never stop learning. Kowal enjoys the ongoing discovery and education while being a global citizen. He enjoys the mutual respect and sharing of knowledge with students while serving as a Learning Partner.
“It’s not about the volunteerism,” said Kowal. “It’s about the shared experiences, and the opportunity for continued learning.”