While some students pack sunscreen for the typical sun and surf spring break, others one-up them by having the vaca of a lifetime - one that's both enjoyable for them and rewarding to others.

Making Friends Through Good Deeds
While college students got their bathing suits and snow skis ready for spring break last year, Josh Bundy, a senior at Harding University (Searcy, AR), was packing work clothes. The bible and religion major led a service-oriented spring break campaign to Jinotega, Nicaragua. Josh, along with 23 fellow Harding students and faculty, built a home, worked in a medical clinic, helped at schools, and completed various odd jobs like painting and cleaning up parks. Plus, weekly meetings with his campaign group solidified bonds he didn't foresee. "We've really gotten to be a good group of friends," he says.

Hurricane Help
After Hurricane Katrina, Matthew Truax, a third-year law student at Albany Law School (Albany, NY), offered his volunteer services to victims. During his winter break, the 24-year-old went to New Orleans, LA, to work with the Student Hurricane Network, a national association of law students and administrators dedicated to providing long-term assistance to hurricane victims. "I knew the school was looking for volunteers, and something inside me said I should do it," he says. During his volunteer effort, Matthew worked on a lawsuit filed against the city by several housing advocacy groups. The class action lawsuit, Kirk v. City of New Orleans, demanded that residents be notified before their heavily damaged homes were demolished.

Rewarding Travels
Hunter Shelburne, a 20-year-old Texas Christian University (TCU, Fort Worth, TX) junior, traveled to Guanajuato, Mexico, as part of TCU's Alternative Spring Break program. He stayed with a host family, distributed supplies at a girl's orphanage, and learned about Mexican culture. "It was humbling to see how grateful the girls were to receive a personal bar of soap," says the social work student. Hunter and other volunteers also helped start the Mi Casa Diferente program, Mexico's version of Habitat for Humanity. "We stomped in adobe, mixed it, and shaped bricks alongside goats," he recalls. "I went hoping to do something unique with my friends. [My trip] was more rewarding than I could have ever expected."

Serving the Arts
Ariel Roman enrolled in last year's Multiplicities class at California College of the Arts (San Francisco, CA), which traveled to Mexico City. The 20-year-old printmaking major and other students created art projects in collaboration with local students. "It was one of the most amazing experiences, and I've yet to fully absorb it all," she explains. "I met and worked with a variety of artists who, because of a very different cultural context, created amazing pieces of art I could never have even imagined."

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