Students experiment with different experiences with alternative spring breaks

Imagine living as a poor Polish family during the 1800s.

That is what students from Norwich did to understand what it might be like living in Poland over a century ago.

Several students experienced this during their alternative spring break for the Heifer Project International Overlook Farm in Rutland, Mass., according to Mitchell Milliren, 19, a sophomore architecture major from Highland Mills, N.Y.

The Heifer Project International Overlook Farm is one many alternative spring breaks  offered through NU, said Nicole DiDomenico, the director of Center for Civic Engagement. Other students went to Buffalo, N.Y., for Habitat for Humanity, building houses for people in need.

Many students do alternative spring breaks over several years.

"This year I am going to Habitat for Humanity in Buffalo," said Orenda Wooldridge, 20, a sophomore international studies and Spanish major from New Hampton, N.H. Last year she went on the Heifer Project where she learned about hunger and poverty.

The Heifer Project is meant to be a learning experience and is open to the public and volunteers to give people a better understanding of "global hunger, food insecurity and sustainability issues."

The Heifer Project International offers a variety of projects focused on international aid and development around the world. One aspect of Heifer's programming involves giving gifts of livestock to people in the developing world. Heifer might give someone a cow and teach the person how to take care of it, which could benefit an entire village where assistance is needed.

Milliren described the Heifer farm as "a learning center and they also help with villagers across the world and they look for people who need help with agriculture and food distribution."

"Every two weeks there would be meetings which discussed what our goals were when we attended the Heifer Project trip and we would receive pamphlets in order to learn about the trip in advance as well as meet the other students taking part in the trip," according to Sarah Webber, 21, a junior construction engineering management major from Wilmington, Mass.

The Heifer Project has Global Villages which are replications of homes in different countries such as "ones an eastern European home which is representative of a house in Poland and one is a home from Thailand," DiDomenico said.

Students did chores such as feeding animals or putting hay in the barns for the cows, Milliren said.

"We feed the animals in the morning and we tried to rotate and one day we did a service project where we helped cut down weeds in one of (the farm's) pastures," Wooldridge said. "It was for the farm that we stayed at because they wanted it ready for spring when they let the animals graze."

"We worked with one camel, his name was Boo, and we feed them and did chores," Webber said. "We also worked with pigs and we worked with goats who had just had their litter of kids, that's what the baby goats are called so we got to play with them."

Students are required to keep a journal on any of the alternative spring break trips, DiDomenico said.

"We wrote in a journal and we would have group meetings and we talked about our day and what certain plans we had and making sure that we were all on the same track," Wooldridge said.

"For the global stimulation (reenacting people from other cultures and time periods) there were a couple of writing assignments, basically reflections and what we learned and how we got through it and just the recording of what we did, but it was mostly very hands on," Milliren said.

Students faced many challenges throughout their alternative spring break trips.

Milliren said the global stimulation was the most difficult for him because he experienced how poor people suffered a long time ago in different countries,.

"The cultural part when we stayed in the Poland house and we had to eat cabbage stew and we were not supposed to eat anything else the rest of the day," Wooldridge said. "It was really bland and I hate cabbage to begin with so we had to try to live like we were poor and it started at lunch time one day and then continued over night until the next morning."

Although students experienced challenging moments throughout their trips they also experienced some memorable moments.

Wooldridge said a sheep was giving birth and she witnessed the whole event, her first experience seeing anything born.

Getting to know everyone was a part of the trip and working as a team brought all the students together, Webber said.

"Bonding time and working on chores and doing the stimulation and learning about agriculture and food distribution we did everything together, we did a lot of hands-on activities together; we just got to know each other really well and that's one of my favorite memories," Milliren said.

Students enjoyed the alternative spring break trips so much that they would do it again next year.

Wooldridge said that it was a great learning experience and that she would recommend it.

"It was great because I've actually never been on a farm before this trip and I got to see from that point of view and even if you have (been on a farm) it's still a great experience and it's very different," Milliren said.

For students who have never volunteered before, these trips are a great chance to try volunteering, DiDomenico said.  

"I have been on a total of 29 trips since when I was in college, I didn't go to Norwich but when I went to college I went to the Heifer project site and that is where I first learned about it," DiDomenico said. "As a result of my experience at Heifer I really developed an appreciation for animals and what they can provide as far as resources."

Last year, Geoffrey Ross, 23, a senior communications major from Marlton, N.J., went to Springfield, Mass., for Habitat for Humanity. He cleaned a yard in order for a ramp to be put in for an older woman who was in a wheelchair.

Ross said that helping the community and people in need are important to him. One day, he said, the "lady with the wheel chair came over to the site and she was talking to us and all I remember is we all stopped and listened to her talk to us and she said the pastor at her church said she would receive a miracle and that we were the miracle."