An Alternative Call to Action| By Lacey Key

At first this looks like a pensive photo of me planting blackberries with my eyebrow MIA (which in fact it is), but it is also a call to action.  Alternative Break has been the most life changing and growth inspiring opportunity I have had while in college. I’ve learned more than I have in my toughest and most interesting classes. I have learned so much on these trips through travel, community, early morning farmers markets, museum visits, service, and meeting people who have so much to gain from sustainable change.  Most importantly, I’ve learned what it is to put a passion for change into action.

There are things that are very unsettling about the state of this world. As people of privilege on so many levels, furthering our education and creating a foundation for the rest of our lives, I encourage and call upon you to spend one of your academic breaks this year on an Alternative Break.  It will make you frustrated but motivated, taken aback by the devastating and beautiful truths this world has to uncover. 

The college will tell you what classes to take and the necessary steps to earn a degree. What it won’t tell you is that in order to come out of these four years a person who is truly aware of the world, a citizen of this earth, you have to do something a little extra. You have to push your comfort zones, try new things, expand your circle of compassion, get your hands dirty, find a way to sustain not only your own life- but the life that exists all around you.

Alternative Break is my happiness. We all have the chance to do something like this as young people with energy, time, and heart. So, this Fall break, trade your old lenses of the world out for new ones. Laugh at yourself, break down, rebuild yourself again and again. Get smart, get engaged, get active.

Applications are available here, and due Monday September 26th.