UA Students To Join Alumni In New Jersey For Volunteer Work

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University of Arkansas students and UA alumni are choosing to give of themselves this spring as part of the nationally promoted Alternative Spring Break program.

The program promotes volunteerism among college students during spring break, a holiday that is often associated with students partying while on beach and ski vacations.

For the fourth year in a row, University of Arkansas Residence Life and Dining Services staff will accompany a group of volunteer student residents to an out-of-state destination to participate in the Alternative Spring Break program in which students participate in various service opportunities. For the first two years, UA students traveled to the Kansas City area as part of the program.

This year, the UA students will once again travel to Bridgeton, New Jersey, where they spent last year’s break after UA alumna Cynthia Wilks-Mosley contacted the University to invite the students to work alongside alumni in that region.

Wilks-Mosley is the director of the Headstart with the Tri-County Community Action Agency, Inc. in Bridgeton. Students will have different service opportunities, including working with preschool children in Headstart, serving meals to senior citizens through Meals on Wheels, doing minor repair to subsidized housing for senior citizens, clearing land for a park and picnic area, assisting with teen pregnancy groups, and painting murals.

Wilks-Mosley is also inviting UA alumni from that region to participate alongside the students to give them a chance to interact with and contribute to the students’ experience as a way of giving something back to U of A.

Wilks-Mosley’s agency has formed a committee to work on planning an experience that will combine the needs of their clients with the abilities and talents of the students. The agency is in a rural location, but less than an hour from Philadelphia.

Seventeen students will be participating in this year’s program, said Elise May, coordinator for student leadership and staff development. May and Karen Wheeler, assistant director for conferences and marketing, will accompany the students as advisors.

While there, the students and advisors will stay in a house, owned by the agency, that has been designated as a historic landmark, said May. Not only did George Washington stay there, but it was also part of the Underground Railroad, she said.

The group will be leaving by plane at 1 p.m. Saturday and will return March 24.

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