Despite the cancellation of spring break, students will still have opportunities to go on service trips. Graphic by Elizabeth Wong.
The University of Rhode Island’s Alternative Spring Break Service Corps will continue to host service trips for students while complying with COVID-19 guidelines, despite spring break’s cancellation.
Senior Angeleena Rivera, a second-time trip leader, and sophomore Mackenzie Cetta, a first-time trip leader, said that this year there are currently three weekend service trips planned and two week-long trips. The week-long trips will take place between finals and graduation while the weekend trips will occur throughout the semester.
One of the week-long trips addresses racial inequality in education in Vermont from May 10-16, while the other addresses environmental and social justice in Washington D.C. from May 9-15.
The three weekend trips are split up across several weekends. A Rhode Island service project with Habitat for Humanity will occur on March 13-14, March 27-28 and April 10-11. A New England service project that includes visits to Boston and New Hampshire will happen on Feb 20-21, March 19-21 and April 16-18 and a Maine project addressing affordable housing, food insecurity and environmental conservation will meet March 12-14 and April 9-11.
“It’s a little bit different then it was last year and this year,” Rivera said. “It’s not just about the spring break aspect, it’s that you can do service at different times.”
In order to comply with safety guidelines regarding the pandemic, URI Service Corps comply with Rhode Island’s state guidelines, as well as guidelines in other states they may travel to.
Additionally, URI Service Corps will limit the number of participants and require safety precautions to be met for the trips. Vans will transport students to their destinations, and with less students on the trip and more vans for space, students will be able to spread out for social distancing.
“Everyone obviously has to wear masks and then we’re asking that everyone gets tested before the trips so that way we’re not taking anyone that’s possibly at risk,” Rivera said.
Each group will also have a maximum of 10 participants in order to combat the spread of the virus. While these groups may be smaller than other trips in the past, Cetta and Rivera believe that it will be a good opportunity for students to get involved and make an impact.
Rivera and Cetta emphasized the goal of helping communities and doing service projects remains important to URI Service Corps.
“Service is service no matter what, and no matter what way you’re doing it, even if it’s a little bit different than before,” Rivera said. “Even though we might not be able to get as close to people as before, we can still serve and have the same impact as we did before.”
Cetta and Rivera said that many of this year’s trips will be insightful and focus on social justice issues that are especially timely in the current political environment.
“My trip is focusing on affordable housing which is an issue everywhere in the world so I think especially in today’s climate we’ll be able to make an impact on the people we’re seeing and even all the participants being aware of what’s going on around them,” Cetta said.
Rivera’s trip is to Washington, D.C. where she and participants will be focusing on social and environmental justice and working to create a change in the representation in communities.
“Although there is no spring break this year we are still going to have service trips and it might not look like what we’ve had in the past, but service is service,” Rivera said. “It doesn’t matter where you are or who you’re doing it with, if you’re able to be welcomed into a community and you’re able to serve alongside them, you shouldnt have any problems.”
Cetta encourages everyone who is interested to apply no matter what year students are. All the information about 2021 trips and their applications can be found on https://uriservicecorps.weebly.com/.