{"id":57524,"date":"2012-03-29T12:55:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-29T16:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=57524"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:14:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:14:20","slug":"ane-alternative-way-to-spend-spring-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/03\/ane-alternative-way-to-spend-spring-break\/","title":{"rendered":"An Alternative Way to Spend Spring Break"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Minge '12 (CLAS), Elliott Bosco, Michelle Forella '13 (CANR), Steven Hong '14, (CLAS), and Manisha Bicchieri '13 (CANR) make repairs to a house in Dungannon, Va. (Photo courtesy of the Honors Program)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the past five years, the student leadership board for UConn\u2019s Honors Program has put its commitment to service into action, and organized alternative spring break trips. Initially inspired by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, groups of students and staff have volunteered in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida.<\/p>\n

This year, the group decided to lend a hand in a different region of America. \u201cWhen you think of poverty, people think of exotic places,\u201d says Laura Hatchman \u201913, director of HASB 2012. \u201cBut there is poverty everywhere.\u201d One of these \u201coverlooked communities\u201d is Dungannon, Va., a small town in Appalachia with a population of just over 300.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Levits '13 (CLAS) and Michaela Rinaldo, students in the Honors Alternative Spring Break Program, work on a house in Dungannon, Va. (Photo courtesy of the Honors Program)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The location for the annual trip is selected by the HASB organizers, a group that is solely student-based. \u201cStudents own the process from start to finish,\u201d says Lynne Goodstein, director of the Honors Program. The student leaders spent last summer researching destinations and ultimately selected Dungannon.<\/p>\n

Appalachia didn\u2019t have the media spotlight given to the Gulf. Says Hatchman, \u201cPlaces you\u2019ve never heard of will change you the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HASB 2012 leaders planned every detail of the trip. Partnering with the Dungannon Development Commission, they worked directly with an organization called Project HELP. \u201cThey provided us with worksites, food, and housing for the entire week,\u201d said John Peters \u201913, assistant director for HASB 2012. The HASB leadership also secured funding for the trip from UConn\u2019s Undergraduate Student Government, and grants through the Human Rights Institute and Liberty Mutual\u2019s Responsible Scholars program.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>
Students put up new siding and fixed a roof on a house near the top of a mountain. (Photo courtesy of the Honors Program)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With only about 300 residents in the remote town, \u201c[our group] descending upon [the community] was quite noticeable,\u201d said Rebecca Gates, program coordinator for the Honors Program. She served as the trip\u2019s staff advisor, assisted with administrative support, accompanied the students, and most importantly, shuttled them by car to the most isolated worksites. Many of Dungannon\u2019s roads are unpaved and some are steep, said Gates, which proved a challenge for the coach bus.<\/p>\n

Once in Dungannon, the group offered support in various ways, from sorting items at Project HELP\u2019s thrift stores to fixing homes for residents. \u201cI grew up around power tools,\u201d said Rebecca D\u2019Angelo \u201914, \u201cso I have a vague idea of how they work. But I\u2019ve never planned out a project, never created a plan of attack, or put siding up on a house. We were given materials and had to figure out how to conserve those materials to the best of our abilities, in the short amount of time that we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading up to the trip, the team leaders offered background knowledge to prepare the students for the experience, said Hatchman. That included addressing issues such as poverty and stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had personally never traveled to this area before,\u201d said Peters. \u201cOne lesson that I have learned from every alternative spring break trip that I have been on is to go in without any expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Working under blue skies was a help when it was time to repair the roof. (Photo courtesy of the Honors Program)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet the group still encountered life stories that left them humbled. One family\u2019s home \u201cwas literally falling down,\u201d said Hatchman. \u201cYou could put your hand through the wall. I talked to the woman who owned it and she told me during the winter, they were trapped [at the top of the mountain] and burned their own possessions [to heat snow] for water.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the community is not without hope. Someone who \u201ctied the group together\u201d said Hatchman, was a little puppy named Skippy. He lives in the house next to Project HELP, and according to Gates, \u201cpretty much runs Dungannon. He was very protective, but very loving.\u201d Skippy is owned by a woman named Barbara, a gift from her husband shortly before he died of cancer a year ago.<\/p>\n

In front of the students, the small Chihuahua mix was attacked by a large dog. Though Skippy was stunned, he recovered and even bid the bus farewell as it left for Connecticut. \u201cThat little dog encompassed a lot of the spirit of [Dungannon],\u201d said Gates. \u201cHe does what he can with what he\u2019s got, and stays so positive and so proud, even though he gets knocked around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The group taking part in the 2012 Honors Alternative Spring Break program. (Photo courtesy of the Honors Program)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of UConn students in the 2012 Honors Alternative Spring Break program traveled to Appalachia to lend a hand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":57486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-57524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 13:05:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57788,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57524\/revisions\/57788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/57486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57524"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=57524"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=57524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}