Raider Service Breaks provide opportunity to volunteer, travel

Recently renovated to Transformative Undergraduate Experiences, the department hosts weekend and week-long service learning trips for students.

Since the program started in December 2014, Jacy Proctor, the Raider Service Breaks administrator, said they have grown the program to travel across the country and even internationally.

“We just really wanted to give students the opportunity to see new places, work with different people and communities, and learn,” she said. “We just wanted students to be aware and become active citizens.”

Proctor said the goal of the trips is for students to bring what they learned back to their communities – Tech, Lubbock and their hometown – to help in their city, education and future.

On each day of the trip, students have group and individual reflections, journals and blogs. Usually trips range from 8-14 students to allow for a smaller, more meaningful reflection time, Proctor said.

Before leaving for the trip, the department hosts trainings that the students must complete in. Proctor said one is dedicated to the community partner discussing what the students will be doing, while another day gives Proctor a chance to share the importance of the issue and the reason for volunteering.

The spring break trip in 2019 is to the Grand Canyon for the third year in a row. Summer Beckworth, a senior biology major from North Richland Hills, attended her first RSB in 2016 to Corpus Christi for sea turtle conservation. While in Corpus Christi, she said they participated in a good amount of manual labor, from cutting trees to building structures.

“We got to interact with the sea turtles, snakes, birds, and tortoises and they did a lot of educating us on ocean conservation,” Beckworth said.

After attending one trip, she become a site leader for the Grand Canyon trip in 2017. As a site leader, Beckworth said she was a point of contact with the park, and led trainings and the daily reflections. As spring break is the busiest time of the year for the Grand Canyon, Beckworth said they assisted in parking control.

“I absolutely loved the experiences I gained at both trips, they were cheap, and I made some really close friends,” she said. “You get to build relationships with these organizations and faculty that come with you on the trip, which is unique. The group really is like a little family by the end of the trip, especially after spending a million hours in the car together.”

Claudio Bustos, a mechanical engineering graduate from Levelland, attended the New Orleans RSB in 2015.

“I decided to go because I saw Service Breaks as a way to reach out and learn about communities and cultures that I otherwise would not easily be able to do in college,” Bustos said.

While working with Project Homecoming, the students assisted in helping Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild their homes. Bustos said he was able to learn about the devastation that Katrina caused by talking to local people and taking tours of surrounding communities.

“I recommend them to anyone looking to learn about other people and their situation,” he said. “This will also teach you about yourself. By participating in these Service Breaks, people will make a difference around the world while also being able to travel.”

The service trips differ in costs, based on time length and destination. While students pay for 60 percent of the total trip cost, the department covers the rest of the amount. All costs typically include meals, travel expenses and housing. The upcoming week-long trips cost $350, while the international trip to Peru in summer 2019 prices at $1250 without flights.

For students that would like to participate in volunteering but are unsure of paying for the longer trips, TrUE offers local service projects.

Students can visit their website to learn more on the program and apply for trips. (https://www.depts.ttu.edu/true/ASB_Directory/index.php)

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