Springing into Action

When I picture the typical college spring break, I imagine a tropical locale such as Miami or Cancun. I envision shirtless men with steroid-like bodies crushing beers and tossing a football on the beach. Nearby, girls lie on oversized, neon-colored towels, pretending to be engrossed in the music blasting through their iPods or the latest “How to Satisfy Your Man,” column in Cosmopolitan. They showcase their sun-kissed and spring break bodies in the cutest bikinis they could find from Bloomingdales. After all, they haven’t been working out the past four months for nothing. The guys happen to “accidentally” throw the football near them and a flirty conversation ensues. They make plans to meet up that night for a bonfire and drinks on the beach and, if they’re lucky, they will still remember each other’s names come morning.

While this might be the typical college spring break experience, William and Mary is far from your typical school. When students at other schools line up days in advance for basketball tickets, we camp out for the opportunity to go on a service trip. I was one of those students – gladly trading in a carefree vacation with my closest friends for the chance to build houses with Habitat for Humanity and fifteen other students I barely knew. Yet I’m no saint. I represent only one of over a hundred students who participated on an alternative break trip and am only one of close to a thousand to apply. William and Mary students are unique and diverse but a common thread that binds us together is our commitment to service. Our school boasts more international service trips than any other in the nation – especially impressive when you consider our small size.

My spring break experience was transformative. Our group spent ten days in Champerico, a small coastal town in Guatemala, building two houses for some of the most deserving and hardworking individuals I have ever encountered. We spent our days mixing cement, carrying blocks, and overcoming the language barrier with smiles and games of charades. During lunch, we would play soccer against the neighborhood children. We finished each day with sore bodies covered in dirt, sweat, and cement. Our nights were comprised of sprawling out on the rooftop terrace of our hotel – sharing our experiences, exchanging back massages, and exploring the root of the area’s housing problems. I left Champerico with much more than awful glove tan lines, an unsettled stomach, and a suitcase full of disgusting clothing. I brought onto that flight a much better understanding and interest in the issues surrounding Guatemala’s socioeconomic divide, a vested interest in service, two new penpals with whom to practice my Spanish, some basic construction skills, wonderful photos, and fifteen teammates who had quickly become my best friends.