By MEGAN MYERS
PEACE has officially announced the locations for this academic year. The first trip available to students is right around the corner, Oct. 14-16 in Orlando, FL. The trip focuses on veterans’ health and costs $75 per student. The price of each trip varies depending on the destination, as well as the length of the trips.
“Trips can range from $75 for a weekend break up to $2,500 for an international,” said junior management major and PEACE Student Coordinator Dan Holahan. “We try and make it as accessible as possible for students to participate.”
There are two alternative breaks taking place during spring break, March 5-11, one in Cleveland, OH and one in Knoxville, TN. The trip to Cleveland focuses on the social issue of community engagement and costs each student $500. Students who embark on the journey to Knoxville will focus on housing development and pay $250.
From May 8-27, PEACE will go international. Traveling to Rabat, Morocco, students will focus on education and child development. The cost of this trip is $3,000 per student.
The application process for students interested in one of the trips is simple. There is one application that shows students the list of trips along with the details: location, date, cost, and social issue. There number of spots available depends upon each trip. It is important for students to put effort into the applications due to limited space on the trips.
The members of PEACE recommend that students come into the office, browse the Orgsync page, and ask any questions they have about the trips they are interested in possibly joining in on.
Alternative breaks are available for UT students wanting to be involved with helping different communities as well as increasing personal and group development. Each trip concentrates on a different social issue, such as education or community engagement.
“We take the holistic approach of developing the student, developing the group, and improving the community that were going into and also the UT community when the students come back,” Holahan said.
The alternative break locations from the previous year were Tennessee, Arizona and Ecuador. Holahan was one of the leaders on the trip to Ecuador, where the group stayed in a local community for ten days.
“We worked with members of the community and did some sustainable gardening as well as community development projects,” Holahan said.
While taking part in an alternative break, students have the opportunity to learn about a new community and embrace a new environment.
“The main goal of an alternative break is to provide direct a hands-on service that addresses a critical and relevant social need,” said Jenna DelVescio, sophomore allied health major and co-director of alternative breaks. “The point of an alternative break is to become immersed in the culture and social issues of the location in order to work towards a solution.”
Megan Myers can be reached at meagn.myers@spartans.ut.edu.