Spring break for a good cause

By Kelly P. Walsh

With finals around the corner, and the impending deadlines for papers and projects, students turn to the upcoming spring break as an alternative to carrying themselves through the stressful end of the quarter scramble.

It is the one cherished week in the middle of March; an opportunity to leave behind the monotonous class schedule and poor weather conditions, with the hope of catching up on much needed sleep and working on the tan.

A large portion of Santa Clara students tend to flock to the beaches of Hawaii or Mexico, while others prefer to hit the slopes of Tahoe or Colorado.

Sophomore Sabrina Cosentino has a busy spring break planned.

"First, I am going to Oahu to visit my sister and watch her perform," Cosentino said. "She is a professional hula dancer in Waikiki. Then I am going to fly to Long Beach to visit my best friend."

Some students tend to come up with unique spring break trips.

"I am planning to travel to Atlanta for the week to visit two of my good friends, one of whom attends Georgia Tech and the other at Emory University," sophomore Erin Wheeler said. "It is my first time going to Atlanta. They're going to show me all the sites and it should be a lot of fun."

Another unique opportunity is The Ignatian Retreat that Campus Ministry offers and is open to students, faculty, staff and friends. The Ignatian Retreat is a five-day silent program based on the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

"The retreat is a prayer experience designed to give people an opportunity to focus on their faith, their relationship with God, how they are using their talents, how they want to be a more integrated person and live their life with more integrity," Mario Prietto, SJ, said.

The daily format will consist of individual meetings with retreat directors, as well as daily liturgy and group prayer. Juniors and seniors are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity because it provides them with a way to reflect upon their college experiences. There are also students who seem to go above and beyond the call of duty with spring break plans. Santa Clara sponsors various alternative spring break trips, one of them being an immersion trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Forty Santa Clara students will be going to build houses for the impoverished. This is the first year the immersion trip has been offered, and was spearheaded by Santa Clara Community Action Program and the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity. The goal of the project is for students to come back from the immersion experience with an introductory understanding of Mexican culture and heritage, as well as a sense of the extreme poverty that plagues Tijuana.

"It is a great experience," said sophomore Joe Albers, one of the students who is coordinating the trip. "You experience the poverty first hand, as well as gaining a profound understanding of the American influence in the area. It is a great bonding experience and truly encompasses the pursuit of social justice."

Another one of the alternative spring break trips will be to Dolores Mission, a Jesuit parish in East Los Angeles. This trip will address issues that challenge their community such as gang violence, childcare and education. For several years, Santa Clara has made a commitment to support this parish, with at least one of the monthly collections from the student mass going to Dolores Mission.

"Although there will be ample opportunity to provide volunteer service, this is not the focus of the experience," said director of the trip Lulu Santana. "Rather the goal of the program is for students to experience and be immersed in the issues of inner-city life."

The group of 12 students that are attending the trip have been meeting in order to prepare, as well as get to know one another better.

Habitat for Humanity is planning a trip to Las Vegas, Nev., with a goal similar to that of the Tijuana trip. Habitat for Humanity is an international organization that constructs homes for low-income families. The Santa Clara chapter, headed by Alex Hellwig, has two primary goals, the first being volunteer work at local Santa Clara construction sites to help-out on the weekends, and the second being the annual spring break trip. Sophomore Frank Kreikebaum is assisting in the Las Vegas planning effort and went on the trip last year.

"I loved [the trip] for a variety of reasons," Kreikebaum said. "It was a great learning experience and the community that forms is incredible. It is really an exciting opportunity to meet other people and to really get close with them."

Sophomore Kelley McCann is among the eight students attending the trip. "Habitat will push me to do something that I have never done before," McCann said. "I will learn a lot more about the surrounding community and myself."

Whether you choose the trip to Hawaii or the volunteer experience in Mexico, the most important goal is to come back spring quarter refreshed and with lots of energy to get through the next 10 weeks. Then you can reap the benefits of a long summer vacation.