More than 40 University of Texas at Dallas students and staff took part in the first in-person Alternative Spring Break volunteer experiences since 2019 after a hiatus forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants helped with seven service projects and assisted nonprofit organizations across four states.
“Our trips were a resounding success,” said Mark Este, director of the Office of Student Volunteerism. “Many of our community partners have not had consistent volunteers over the past two years, so they were grateful for the impacts UTD students made this year.”
The scope of the service opportunities was wide, Este said.
Projects ranged from building a hiking trail bridge at Moran State Park in Olga, Washington, to supporting staff and patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, to working on an urban farm with the San Antonio Food Bank.
Jaida Holley, a visual and performing arts junior, served as site leader for the environmental conservation trip with the Galveston Bay Foundation, based in Kemah, Texas.
The service trip gave her a range of experiences, she said, including removing invasive plants and cleaning trash from a beach. A highlight was helping with the foundation’s oyster recycling partnership with local restaurants, in which old oyster shells are returned to the bay, where young oysters can attach to them for support as the oysters build their own shells.
“We measured the size of the dead oysters along with the live oysters that used the old shells to take form. This inventory helps the foundation observe the types of oysters that are forming in that area of the bay,” she said. “The oysters we measured were really healthy and large.”
Holley said she decided to work with the Galveston Bay Foundation because of her recent involvement as a leader with the UT Dallas Community Garden.
“Our trips were a resounding success. Many of our community partners have not had consistent volunteers over the past two years, so they were grateful for the impacts UTD students made this year.”
Mark Este, director of the Office of Student Volunteerism at UT Dallas
“I have less experience volunteering with environmental causes than any other, but the garden has opened me up to that,” she said.
Laura Pinto, a computer engineering freshman, was a site leader for a project helping LGBTQ and ally services in Dallas through Dallas Hope Charities. Pinto said her team also had diverse experiences over the week.
“My team and I served in a food truck where we served about 170 meals to people in need, including those in the LGBT+ community, and distributed groceries,” she said. “During the last day, we had an incredible experience helping paint one of the houses where young adults who are part of the LGBT+ community live.”
Holley and Pinto both said they didn’t feel like they were giving up a thing by spending their spring break volunteering.
“It’s really interesting because it all still felt like spring break, just like a different way to spend it, in which I got to help out greatly,” Holley said.
Pinto said that even staying in Dallas was fun. “I was able to see happy faces and help the community. I made friends, had fun, laughed and explored new things during this volunteer experience.”
