Annual Service Immersion Trips Display University’s Spirit of Service

When spring break comes, many college students head to the beaches in sunny locales to celebrate with their friends. Foregoing the frolic next week, however, will be a group of more than 60 students from DePaul University who will travel to seven different states to perform community service activities.

The service immersion "alternative spring break" program, now in its 18th year, is sponsored by DePaul’s University Ministry, and will encompass such activities as assisting with building projects, tutoring children, elderly care, helping homeless people and working with an AIDS awareness charity.

Taking a cue from the university’s Vincentian mission of service to others, the students will follow five tenets inspired by the Catholic order’s patrons, St. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac: spirituality, simple living, service, international community and social justice. Participants will spend part of each day collaborating on an educational segment linked to the social issue being addressed at each site. They also will spend time in spiritual reflection at the end of each day’s service.

"We want to make sure the students realize that this is about more than painting a house," said Casey Bowles, DePaul’s service immersion trip coordinator. "Rather, it’s an opportunity for students to learn about the systemic issues involved, and develop relationships that will help address those problems in the future."

Topics covered during the weeklong trips, which begin March 19, will include fighting AIDS, civil rights, rural education, urban ministry, advocacy to reduce homelessness, and peace and nonviolent protest. This year’s seven locations include five urban locales (Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; New Orleans; Baltimore and Montgomery, Ala.) and two rural ones (Cranks Creek, Ky. – in the heart of Appalachia – and Okolona, Miss.).

The volunteer service immersion trips operate in conjunction with a national series of events focused on youth civic action -- Campus Compact’s Raise Your Voice campaign, a national non-partisan effort that already has connected more than 300,000 students across the country to support student civic engagement and address public issues crucial to democracy. Last year, more than 100,000 students on 250 campuses nationwide organized and engaged in political and service activities as part of the month-long effort, titled "A Month of Action." DePaul’s student participants raised money to defray costs of the travel last week with a successful door-prize raffle.

With a total enrollment of 23,570 students on two city and five suburban campuses, DePaul is the eighth-largest private university in the United States and the largest Catholic university in the nation. DePaul is an innovative and diverse university offering pragmatic educational programs that instill values, including a commitment to community service.