UA Students to Spend Spring Break Helping Others

Tuscaloosa, ala. — For many students across the country, spring break is spent at the beach working on a tan, but a group of University of Alabama students will spend their spring break as volunteers helping less fortunate people in another country.

A group of UA students is leaving Tuscaloosa on Friday, March 14, and traveling to Guatemala for spring break as part of the UA Community Service Center’s Alternative Spring Break program. While there, the UA students will perform volunteer work for the residents of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

The students will partner with El Nahual, a local community service organization, and will stay with local families while in Quetzaltenango.

UA student Kendall Smith who organized the trip said, “The participants’ main projects include building a school, tutoring children, adult education classes and agricultural programs.”

Caroline Nabors, a freshman ASB participant, is excited about her first trip. “I am attending ASB for the first time this spring break. I am very excited about spending my time helping and learning from people of a different culture” Nabors said, “I believe it will be a wonderful experience for all who are attending.”

In addition to the community service the students are providing, they will also tour the historic city of Antigua and will visit a coffee plantation.

The visit to Antigua will be even more special because it is Holy Week says ASB participant Stephanie Portugal, a graduate student in marketing. “I’m most interested in going to Guatemala because it is a wonderful opportunity to experience another culture, even if it is for a short period of time. Also, the trip is simultaneous with Guatemala’s Holy Week. I am Catholic and half-Hispanic, so seeing the celebration of this culture is extraordinarily interesting to me,” Portugal said.

The UA students will return to Alabama on Saturday, March 22.