As singer John Mayer once said, “find a high on Peachtree Street.” If you’re not familiar with the lyric, it is in reference to a famous road in downtown Atlanta, GA lined with restaurants, clubs and hotels. I was on this particular street during my Alterative Spring Break trip and, I must say, I most certainly did not find a high. In fact, it may have been one of the most sobering moments of my life.
ASB students clean, volunteer and teach in the inner city
In an unfinished room tucked inside a plaza in south Atlanta, Amanda Stewart addresses a group of young minds from Keene State College. She gives a briefing on some of the issues the Alternative Spring Break students will be faced with over the week. They include drugs, poverty, abuse, homelessness, sex trafficking and death. Stewart is talking in reference to the daily lives of children living in the city.
Remaining objective is a journalist’s main job. It’s an undeniable fact that journalists face the task of bringing emotional stories to light while staying emotionless themselves.
A famous documentarian once said, “I shoot well because 50 percent of what I shoot comes from my eye and 50 percent comes from my heart.”
During the time of relaxation and leisure when spring breakers withdraw from educational anxieties and drown themselves in the euphoria of typically forbidden indulgences, I experienced the opposite sensation.
ASB students build, destroy with Habitat for Humanity
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines ‘alternative’ as “different from the usual or conventional.” For the 20 Keene State College students who recently returned from an Alternative Spring Break trip to Athens, GA, spring break activities definitely fell outside the traditional.
It is the night before I leave for Alternative Spring Break and I’m sitting here, looking around at the mess I’ve made of my room while I try to decide what to pack for the next nine days.
ASB Charlotte does field and social jobs
As an ASB group, the Charlotte, N.C. team overcame many changes before the trip even started. The group was slated to hit the road for Tennessee, until the Boys and Girls Club decided they did not need the group’s assistance. The trip started with two leaders, but within the weeks leading up to the trip, one leader left, making way for a new face. One of the participants dropped out, only to be replaced by three more.
