Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips are student-run week long volunteer service trips designed to challenge students and combat civic issues underlying larger societal concerns-- such as homelessness, health care, animal welfare and the environment. Our UMBC ASB trips will teach students the power of service and leave them with a sense of camaraderie, compassion, and empathy for the people of the world, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status.

Apply to participate here:  http://goo.gl/8dJ9b5

Alternative Spring Breaks at UMBC consists of three tiers of service learning. At UMBC we encourage the higher learning of the student via their maturity, critical thinking, and perceptions of society. ASB can be broken down into education, volunteering, and community. All of these components are addressed while attending an ASB trip. Students are immersed into a community that faces a challenge that prevents upward social mobility or survival. Students will be engaged in a week long immersion that strives to actively engage participants in service and reflection.  Each trip is planned and lead by a student trip leader. To insure the safety of the students on the trip a UMBC faculty or staff member is required to participate as a trip advisor.  In depth preparation is included when committing to a trip, which includes service learning related to the population/community you are serving in pre-break service, meetings and team building activities unite you to your trip team, and research into the social justice issue your trip will be addressing.