Student Coordinator:
Ryan Skinner '13, skinnerr

Rice County, Twin Cities, National
Periodic Commitment

The Alternative Spring Break program allows groups of students to spend a week in late March working with Habitat for Humanity affiliates and service learning sites in the upper Midwest. This year, the Center for Community and Civic Engagement is sponsoring 2 trips with support from CSA.

Trips for the 2013 spring break (week of March 24th):

For 2013, we are re-focusing the trips around the theme of service learning. This means a renewed commitment to exploring the housing and social justice issues affecting the partner sites, both within the groups and with the Carleton community. Specifically, participants will work with focused readings on these topics before departure, and prepare a photo essay exhibit to be displayed in Gould Library upon their return. The goal? That the small number of people the ACT Center sends will gain a deeper understanding of these issues, and that the campus as a whole will become more globally aware through our eyes.

Dates: We will leave in campus fleet vehicles from outside Sayles on the morning of Sunday, March 24th, and return to campus on Saturday, March 30th.

Cost: $195 for the Waterloo, IA trip; $230 for the Pine Ridge, SD trip, and $75-125 for the Wolf Ridge trip. Between partial and full financial aid will be available for a limited number of participants. This covers literally everything on the trip for the entire week: lodging, food, travel, events, and other activities are provided by the program on a daily basis.

Building Sustainable Food Systems: Wolf Ridge, Finland, MN

Interested in spending spring break helping to construct a sustainable cold-weather organic farm in the hills along the North Shore of Lake Superior? The Wolf Ridge Sawmill Valley Farm is an emerging organic farm situated amid a maple and evergreen forest in the town of Finland, Minnesota on the rugged North Shore of Lake Superior. The farm seeks to provide food for the population of the Wolf Ridge campus, which houses roughly 400 students year round. Wolf Ridge itself is an environmental learning institution that offers courses in ecology and Minnesota history to area youth. Over the 2013 alternative spring break, volunteers will help in the final construction phases of the first 30x96’ greenhouse and prepare trails for the growing season this coming summer.  Additional activities include a visit to Victus Farms, a nutrient-cycling fish and lettuce farm in Silver Bay, Minnesota. Students will be housed in the dormitories and will eat in the dining hall, and there will be time for exploring the North Shore and enjoying the hiking and ski trails. The site is in a remote location and applicants must be physically able to work long days in cold Northern Minnesota weather.

5 spots are available
Students will start work Monday March 25th, and return Saturday March 30th at around 5pm (dorms will be open).
Cost is $75-125 per person and financial aid available through the CCCE.
Deadline for application is 5pm Feb 4th. 

Waterloo, Iowa

The first trip will be to Waterloo, IA through Habitat for Humanity International, a non-profit faith-based housing organization that has built more than 150,000 houses worldwide since 1976, including over 500 in Minnesota.

Carleton has a long-standing relationship with the Waterloo site. In past years, participants have spent the week working alongside Habitat homeowners framing, siding, painting, roofing, and insulating houses during the workday. No prior experience in construction is necessary, and the (absolutely awesome) Habitat staff teach you how to build. We will get a feel for Midwest culture while learning about housing issues in the U.S. *

Pine Ridge, SD

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is located around the southern half of Badlands National Park, and includes some of the lowest income per-capita counties in the U.S. A Carleton alumnus, Peter Hill '00, has been working on linguistic revitalization efforts for more than ten years to bring the Lakota language back to youth on the reservation; he is one of the youngest fluent speakers.

We will be staying at Pine Ridge Retreat Center, which, along with Peter, will arrange cultural speakers for the group in the evenings. Our daily activities will involve a substantial amount of volunteer work repairing homes on the reservation. Evenings will be spent exploring local culture under the guidance of Peter or Center staff, or learning more about life in Pine Ridge. This trip is a new one, but it promises to be a poignant opportunity to engage a community outside of Northfield. *

* Campus Engagement

Students on both trips will document their experiences and combine them into a photo-essay exhibit addressing the social and economic issues affecting each of the partner sites. This will be displayed in the Libe during spring term. In addition, the groups will come together for a reflection luncheon to discuss how the trips affected them upon their return to Carleton.