An Unconventional Spring Break

Nicole Ramlogan

Staff Writer

Without a doubt it has been a crazy year for us here in New York; from Hur­ricane Sandy to Nemo. We all have this well-deserved break, but rather than sleep­ing the whole break away there are a lot of productive activities we can partake in as well. Volunteering is a productive way to spend your break. Not only are you doing something constructive with you time, it’s doing something meaningful and meeting new people – all while helping people who can really use it.

Spring break doesn’t mean book a flight to some place warm and party all day. It’s a break for everyone to do something that we all enjoy and getting a break from the normal everyday routine. Anyone can volunteer in their hometowns. Do activities over break like volunteering at a local soup kitchen, tak­ing part in an adopt a highway event, getting involved in fundraisers to raise money for a cause, or even donating clothes and canned food to a local shelter.

LIU Post has had their annual alterna­tive Spring Break program, where students have spent their break in Louisiana, helping out the victims from Hurricane Katrina. Stu­dents have been building homes and helping anyway they can. Jeanette Murray, who is the coordinator for this event said, “Instead of our annual Spring Break trip to Louisiana where we work on homes effected by the hurricanes, we’ve put together a ‘Give Where You Live’ week. So many people in our local community are still struggling with the ef­fects of Super-storm Sandy. If students can spend some time during their Spring Break to lend a hand, it makes a real difference in the lives of people struggling to rebuild and return to their homes.”

Our homes and communities mean a lot to all of us and we can’t forget to think about what has happened in the past few months here in New York. We all deserve this upcoming Spring Break next week, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t also spend some time to help out and volunteer.

Whether you are going away, staying on campus, doing homework or volunteer­ing. Just make sure you enjoy the break and make sure it is a memorable one.