By
Anastasia Ching
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Kayaking and volunteer yardwork fill some students' week
It's hard to be good during Spring Break.
All the makings of a veritable "Temptation Island" are there: sun, beach, babes, brawn, booze.
But for some students, the trappings of an MTV "Spring Break Beach Party" experience hold little appeal.
For these students, serious pursuits, such as volunteer work, will take priority over acquiring the perfect tan.
Jill Rode, an elementary education sophomore and ministry associate at the University of Arizona Lutheran Campus Ministry, discovered a volunteer opportunity that satisfies both the lure of Mexico and the desire to help others.
"Every Spring Break, LCM tries to do a mission," Rode said. "Last year, we went to El Salvador, so this year we wanted to do something more local.
"I heard about Esperanza Children's Orphanage through my home congregation. I thought it was ideal because it's close to Rocky Point and the beach and I really wanted to work with little kids."
From March 11 to March 14, 12 ministry members will donate their time to painting dormitories for the 50 children who live in the orphanage.
Lesly Underdown, a biology freshman and LCM member, said she cannot think of a better way to spend her break.
"It's just something we (LCM) like to do," Underdown said. "It's fun - it's going to be hard work, but it's better than sitting around drinking or just going home."
In preparing for the trip, Underdown said she was excited to bring toys and clothes to the children, but was surprised and humbled to discover what the children need most.
"What they really need are potatoes," she said. "Here I was looking forward to bringing them toys when what they really need is food - it gives you perspective."
Rode said that giving her Spring Break time seems like the obvious choice.
"Since we have the time and the funds, we should use these resources to give back and to help out," Rode said.
The students representing Alternative Breaks, a UA organization that sends 80 students on four different volunteer missions each Spring Break, possess a similar mindset of volunteerism.
Amy Ashline, an art history senior and director of Alternative Breaks, is in her third year of involvement with the organization.
"I got an e-mail my sophomore year about the trips and I decided to apply," Ashline said. "I've gone on the L.A. (Los Angeles) trip every year since, and now I'm both director of that trip and of the entire organization.
"The people and the dedication they have for volunteering just make you want to keep coming back."
This year's Alternative Breaks locations are:
San Jose, Calif., where the students will volunteer at Innvision, a homeless shelter where they will serve food and help clean.
Catalina Island, Calif., where the students will do environmental work consisting of pulling weeds, planting trees and rebuilding trails.
Students going to Los Angeles will do office work and volunteer at the AIDS Project Los Angeles food bank.
The students traveling to Imuris, Mexico will work in a small community with adults and children, painting murals at schools and helping to fix up the locality.
Henry Sargent, a nursing sophomore going on the Catalina Island trip, saw a flyer in his residence hall that caught his attention advertising Alternative Breaks.
"It stood out as something I would want to do that would enable me to meet a lot of new people and to be outdoors," Sargent said.
Raghu Nandan, a business junior, said he has no regrets about spending his 1999 Spring Break on an Alternative Breaks trip to the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, N.M. There, he painted schools, dug irrigation ditches and interacted with Navajo students and community members.
"I felt like we made a difference," Nandan said. "We left behind a little, and I think we received a lot more by way of a new cultural experience as well as the satisfaction of having helped people."
For those who aren't prone to volunteering or binge drinking, Outdoor Adventures, located in the UA Student Recreation Center, promises an intense, muscle-powered, drug-and-alcohol-free Spring Break experience.
Each Spring Break, Outdoor Adventures offers a sea kayaking trip to the Tiburon Island in the Sea of Cortez, just off the western coast of Mexico.
The Seri Indians who control the island used to inhabit Tiburon before the Mexican government relocated them to Punta Chueca on the mainland of Mexico.
"Tiburon is a sanctuary of sorts," said Richard Allen, a psychology junior and general staff member on the sea kayaking trip. "You need permission from the Seri governor to go so we have a Seri guide named Ernesto to take us to the island from Punta Chueca."
Once at Tiburon Island, the 10 student and faculty participants and four Outdoor Adventures staff members will spend seven days paddling a total of 30 to 40 miles north up the eastern shore and exploring the island.
Allen describes the island as a desert environment with white sand, clear water and a wide array of wildlife ranging from coyotes and big horn sheep to sting rays and sea turtles.
"You're basically exposed for seven days to an isolated desert paradise," Allen said.
Diana Ziegler, a journalism freshman, looked into Outdoor Adventures trips after her parents told her they would only pay for a university-affiliated activity.
"My parents said they wouldn't pay for me to go on a trip with friends," Ziegler said. "I remembered seeing pictures of the sea kayaking trip when I borrowed sleeping bags from Outdoor Adventures, and I figured it would be an exciting and warm way of spending my break."
Ziegler also convinced her boyfriend, Aaron Putt, a studio art freshman, to take the trip with her.
Putt said that he didn't need much persuading - he isn't attracted to typical Spring Break locales and says he loves the physical challenge of the outdoors.
"I don't need to drink to have fun," Putt said. "Thirty miles of kayaking might be tough, but I think I'm up to it."
Allen said Outdoor Adventures' no-alcohol policy has never been an issue with students.
"I can't imagine wanting to drink on this trip," he said. "They'll be having so much fun, they won't want to drink. Besides, they'll be too tired, anyway."
