For decades, hundreds of college students have taken flight for the sunny beaches of Florida or Mexico during spring-break week. For almost 25 years, Marquette University has run the Marquette Action Program, an alcohol-free alternative program which encourages students to participate in community service during semester breaks. The program, sponsored by University Ministry, will take place March 3 to March 10.
Students return and realize just how much they learned from the people they helped.
Marquette students will travel to Enid, Okla., to work for Habitat for Humanity. Students will go south to work with Madison Counties Allied Against Poverty in Canton, Miss., to rehabilitate housing and discuss with community residents solutions to poverty and racism. Service in the south will continue at the Resurrection Catholic Mission in Montgomery, Ala., where students will tutor children, assist teachers in classroom activities, and interact with the elderly. Students will travel to Appalachian communities to help the Ivanhoe Civic League in Ivanhoe, Va., with construction and repair work in the former mining community. Appalachian residents in Cranks Creek, Ky., will welcome students who will help renovate and build low-cost housing for the Cranks Creek Survival Center.