Spring Break: Drury students serve communities in Louisiana and Tennessee, other students share travel photos

Front Page, News March 23, 2018, by copyeditor Comments Off 198

After several sleepless nights and the stress of midterms, many students were excited to spend their Spring Break on vacation or at home. However, a few select Drury students dedicated their Spring Break to serving others.

Alternative Spring Break Trips

Drury University’s 2018 Alternative Spring Break Program sent students to two locations, each with different types of service work. One group of students traveled to the heart of New Orleans, Louisiana to help with disaster relief and recovery. The other group promoted animal welfare and environmental preservation in the countryside of Savannah, Tennessee.

New Orleans

Freshman Forest Swisher detailed the events of the New Orleans trip.

“Our focus was gentrification and how we can combat it. Gentrification is systematically making an area more and more expensive to push out the people that are already there. It primarily happens in low income and African American communities. We worked with the United Saints Recovery Project to combat this, and helped to rebuild damages that occurred in 2005 with hurricane Katrina,” said Swisher.

Over the course of the trip, students created relationships with the people they helped. Freshman Noelle Souter remembers bonding with a woman known as Miss Linda as she and other students rebuilt parts of her house.

“We built a wall for Miss Linda on the side of her house that was destroyed in hurricane Katrina. Even through Katrina was more than 12 years ago, many people are still affected by the destruction it brought,” said Souter.

Students on the New Orleans trip helped both people and animals.

Souter said, “We also worked at an animal shelter with dogs and cats. We walked the dogs and cleaned the cats’ cages and just played with them.”

The trip wasn’t all hard work. Students spent their free time exploring the French Quarter, Bourbon Street and other Louisiana locales.

“On our day off, we walked around the French Quarter and got to see Jackson Square and St. Peter’s Cathedral, which is beautiful!” said Souter. “We also ate on an old river boat while listening to a Grammy-nominated jazz band play. After our service was done for the day, throughout the week we ate and walked around downtown. We saw many street performers, and we saw brides and grooms dance down the street with jazz bands after they had gotten married,” she continued. “On our last day, we saw an early St. Patrick’s Day parade.”

Swisher, however, had an introspective experience while working within the community.

“I really saw how the city, state and federal government had failed these people, and I saw how community members and volunteers, such as ourselves, came together to rebuild and to help each other,” he said. “I have been actively volunteering since middle school, but it really opened my eyes to what gentrification is and how it’s a problem. I feel as if I have really found my calling. The work that I was doing – I loved every second of it. And as someone going into public service, I’m glad to be aware of these kinds of problems.”

Savannah

In Savannah, Tennessee, students spent time at Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Animal Refuge.

Sophomore Maren Gillet was excited to be a part of the trip, and she used the cramped car ride to make friends.

“The trip was awesome. It was a seven hour drive in a fully packed car with 11 individuals, so we all got close and comfy fairly quickly,” she said.

Before starting all the hard work, the group made a detour to Nashville, Tn.

“We took a day before the week started and went to Nashville, where we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and explored the downtown area. The weather decided to pour that day, so we were all soaked by the time we left for Savannah. It was a two hour drive both ways and riding in a car with wet clothes isn’t fun,” said Gillet.

After the wet car ride, the group arrived at Horse Creek, where they were assigned their work for the week.

“The week consisted of learning about Horse Creek, the people that work there, the history and of course the dogs. There are seven people that work the property, which is 2,000 acres. That is absolutely mind boggling to me. The group worked with the staff during the week on the property and with the dogs. We mulched almost all of the buildings on the property and also raked leaves,” said Gillet.

While Drury students helped the sanctuary tremendously, they had to resist the temptation to take the dogs home with them.

Goose, a husky mix. Photo via Maren Gillet.

“Working with the dogs was awesome. I wanted to bring one home so badly. We would walk the dogs as much as we could within a four hour time period,” said Gillet. “Some dogs had been abused, so some wouldn’t look at us, would run away and hide, or would shy away from loud noises. All the dogs had a friend so we were able to walk them in groups. Some were more athletic than others, so I got my exercise in!”

According to Gillet, the trip’s adviser, Ryan Gipson, could not resist one sweet pup.

“We all definitely had a favorite dog by the end of the week. Ryan Gipson, one of the group leaders, is actually going back to [Tennessee] to adopt a dog next week! Her name is Sallie, and she is the most adorable thing ever,” said Gillet.

On their day off, the Tennessee group went to Nashville once more.

The group’s last night at the Grand Ole Opry. Photo via Maren Gillet.

“On our last day, we arranged before the trip to go back to Nashville, and we went to the Grand Ole Opry! I’m not the biggest country fan, but it was a fun experience,” said Gillet. “The highlights were Lee Brice and Josh Turner. There were a lot of people, and we were crammed into one long row but it was fun to listen to the different stars perform.”

Gillet found Drury’s Alternative Spring Break to be a life-changing experience.

“I highly recommend taking advantage of this program. The learning experience and the adventures are amazing,” she said. “Plus, you get to spend a week with fellow Drury students, which is awesome. I made new friends and made new connections with people I probably would never talk to and made some old friendships even stronger.”

Drury offers Alternative Breaks during both Fall and Spring Break. The locations vary each year. Support from the Student Government Association makes the trips affordable, so more Drury students have the opportunity to experience the combination of travel and service. Students who participate are also eligible to receive engaged learning credit. You could spend your next break making the Drury Difference!

Spring Break Travel

While some Drury students participated in the Alternative Spring Break Program, others took the week to travel. Some students only drifted a few hours from campus. Others traveled to beaches, frozen lakes, mountains, and even different countries. The Mirror asked students to share their spring break travel photos.