First Meeting Recap!

Our First Trip Meeting

Our first meeting as a team was awesome! We finally got to meet one another and talk more about our trip and how great it is going to be!!!

Before we met as a group, all the trips met together to talk about the history of these break trips at UT (22 year tradition!!!) and to discuss the Active Citizen Continuum. We found that many of the participants found themselves at different points on this continuum, but that we were all excited to make the progression to understanding more about our trip's theme.

After meeting as a program, we all were able to split up into our individual teams! We got situated in our room and played an 'active' ice breaker to get to know one another. After the suspense had grown enough, the trip location was revealed through hangman: 'The Gateway City'! We are all very excited to serve in this community and more information on why we chose St. Louis can be seen below.

After we revealed the location, we refocused on the theme of our trip and the type of work we will be doing during our break. We will be volunteering on our trip at Easter Seals Midwest, Emmaus Home, LifeBridge Partnership, and the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis. All of these organizations do amazing things for people with disabilities in St. Louis, and we cannot wait to join them in just a few weeks!!!

We also covered some of the important logistical aspects of our trip and talked about the work we will be doing before we leave for spring break. We have some service that we will be doing in Knoxville before we leave, and we will be going through some pre-trip training to better prepare ourselves.

Our first meeting was definitely a success and it eased some worries. We are now so excited to serve and learn together!!! Only 26 days left!!!

Why We Chose St. Louis

Bereft of its former fur trading outposts, St. Louis's nickname and famously looming arch harken back to its unsettled past. Despite being known for its fascinating history, it's the things the city is not known for that may define its future.

In a city of just under 320,000, an estimated 60,000 of its residents have been diagnosed with some form of disability. This puts it rate of persons with disabilities at nineteen percent or seven percent above the national average.  It is a city with a clear need for programming for persons with disabilities.  While the city has created many great programs, it, like many cities, has many residents who are not educated on these programs or persons with disabilities. They are a group who have only relatively recently begun to see legislation and awareness go their way.

Our rationale for picking St. Louis is two-fold. During the break trip, participants will have the opportunity to help many great organizations in a city with a need for their work.  Then, in the second stage, the skills and knowledge the participants acquire from their work in St. Louis will hopefully be transferable to their local communities.  Ideally this Gateway City will be a gateway for further progress.

Meet the Alternative Break Leaders and Trip!

Meet the Leaders

Kristin: I am a senior in Mechanical Engineering. Some of my hobbies include cooking, crafting, and ultimate frisbee. I absolutely love the Alternative Break Program at UT. This will be my third trip to go on and my second one to lead. I have really loved the friendships I have made on these trips and the service I have done in the different areas. I am really looking forward to this trip because I think that we have some great service sites, and I think that we will learn a lot from these sites.



Dan: I am a junior studying English Literature with the intent to pursue secondary education. In addition to my passion for the Alternative Break Program, I enjoy hiking and the outdoors. I have enjoyed planning this trip with Kristin, and look forward to its execution. My short time with the Alternative Break Program has given me many great experiences, and I hope everyone on the trip may create their own as we learn and serve.

Mission:

We seek to create an educational, interactive experience, which through service and discussions, fosters awareness and motivation that may be used to create a more understanding, compassionate world.

Meet the Trip

Our trip's focus is Disability/Ability Awareness. Our enthusiasm for the theme has led us to do related service work in the past and instilled in us a desire to spread awareness of it. An estimated 37 million Americans, 12 percent of the population, have been diagnosed with some form of disability.  Mental and physical disabilities are extremely varied and each one creates unique challenges not only for the person with the disability, but also for the person’s family and friends.  While there are many organizations that help persons with disabilities, they cannot function without volunteers. This is where we come in!

We want to work and serve with people with disabilities in our location so we can grow by learning more about this issue and so they can develop as well. We will be working with a variety of organizations who help people with mental and physical disabilities focus on their abilities. We will be helping these organizations with their day-to-day work and we will be interacting with their participants so we can focus on and strengthen their abilities.

We are EXTREMELY excited for our trip! We can't wait to meet our participants so we can serve with them this spring break! It's gonna be AWESOME!!!