Springing away from Tufts

Through the drudgery of winter and the stress of writing papers and studying for exams, one gleam of light shines through for Tufts students -- the promise of one week known simply as "spring break."

While the name spring break may conjure up images of lying on the beach in warm sunny weather, not all students take that route.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, approximately one million college students take spring-break trips each year. Nearly 18,000 buy travel packages from Student Travel Services, the most popular spring break package company in the nation.

To encourage students to sign with them, spring break services recruit students to advertise.

One such company is Student City, which bills itself as "The Ultimate Spring Break Experience." In order to entice representatives, including senior Brenden Yee, Student City offered a deal -- for every 15 trips representatives booked, they would get a free trip. If they booked more than 12 trips, they received a commission from the company.

"It was very open-ended in terms of what I was supposed to do," Yee said. "I basically was given a bunch of flyers with my contact information and tried to sell trips to my friends."

Yee found, however, that it was difficult to get the word out about the spring break trips on the Tufts campus. "I found it to be very difficult in that flyers were always being taken down by Facilities, and it was even more difficult to get my friends to commit to a trip four months out," he said. "College kids just don't work that way."

Yee did manage to convince about 15 friends to go through Student City and take a trip to Jamaica.

Other Tufts students booked packages through Student Travel Services, Student Travel Advantage, and Sun Splash Tours.

While the pre-packaged vacation offered by companies such as Student City is appealing to some, other Tufts students plan their own breaks.

"I'm going to San Francisco to visit my friend who goes to [school there]," sophomore Christina Palermo said.

Others student's plans are more ambiguous. "Hopefully I can catch a ride with my friend down to South Carolina; go to D.C., and Georgia," freshman Jeannie Serwich said.

Still, for some students, spring break is a chance to see family and friends who they haven't seen in a while. "I'm taking a break from work to spend time with my family in Disney World and then spending time with my friends at home for the remainder of the break," Sarah Eisler said.

"I'm going to New York City. It will be my first time there so I am looking forward to it, and then I'm heading home to Arizona," sophomore Adam Stober said.

Not all students will be relaxing on their breaks. The Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) sponsors Volunteer Vacations, which offer volunteer work in states including New Jersey and North Carolina. These "working" vacations offer students the opportunity to donate their time to work at such places as the "Rock the Vote" campaign or Habitat for Humanity.

"Volunteer Vacations are a great way to put spring break to a positive use," Volunteer Vacations coordinator Allison Cohen said. "Having a week off from school doesn't have to equal a week of spending insane amounts of money and working on your tan, it can also equal one week of giving back to communities and building new friendships."

A benefit of these programs is that they are relatively cheap and enable students to have a good time while doing community service work. "We are fortunate to be able to run volunteer vacations over spring break to give Tufts students an affordable option that is both fun and civic minded" Cohen said.

"I thought it would be more productive rather than staying at home and hanging out with friends," sophomore Llyod Chebaclo, who is a Volunteer Vacation participant, said. "It'll be great to meet new people, that is another nice part about it."