Most students’ grandest spring break achievement during their seven precious days free from college life is developing a tan that will carry them through the trudges of finals week. For a small group of Suffolk students, they hoped to achieve something that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. And no, its not finally learning how to craft a mean mojito…

These students participated in S.O.U.L.S annual Alternative Spring Break, getting the opportunity to travel across the country and volunteer for a group in need, all expenses paid. This year was the greatest number of locations offered by the community service office with trips going to Colorado, Mississippi, California and Michigan.

“We have been doing this for over ten years but it has really taken off recently,” said Community Service Scholar and Suffolk senior, Allison Brito. “It’s for students who are interested in doing something greater with their spring break than just partying for a week.”

After applying, being interviewed, and going to weekly meetings, students get the opportunity to pick their top trip choices, each with their own unique volunteering experience.

Students who chose to travel to the mountainous terrain of Colorado got to team up with Habitat for Humanity in Denver to assist in poverty relief. The organization builds homes for families who cannot afford proper living arrangements. In a state where poverty is at an all-time high, especially for children in low-income houses, this is a much-needed service, according to Brito. Students got to help first hand in rebuilding these people’s lives and got a different perspective on how the current state of the economy has effected others.

“This trip was very successful,” said Brito. “We usually do trips with Habitat for Humanity and the students always really enjoy it.”

In Meridian, Miss., students also worked with Habitat for Humanity building houses but in a very different environment, far from the epicenter of Hurricane Katrina. Since 2005, the area has been overrun by victims looking to be far from the coast, causing a strain on the town’s resources and amount of free space. According to Paul Weisser, Suffolk junior and attendee of the Mississippi Alternative Spring Break trip, whole families have been living out of trailers and in hotels with only the belongings they fled their homes with. While building the homes for these families, the group got to meet and interact with the people they were helping, putting real purpose and meaning into their accomplishments, according to Weisser.

“People were getting out of the Gulf area with virtually nothing,” said Weisser. “It was really eye-opening. I have realized how thankful I should be that I go to college, live in a house, don’t have to worry about where I will be sleeping tonight. It really hit all of us.”

Freshman Lilian Alvarado had a similar experience when working to clean up the state National Park in San Francisco, Calif., opening her mind to a whole new slew of ideas. She origianally picked the trip in order to learn more about the environment and see how other states deal with these issues and came back with her life changed.

“People who were walking on the trails and would ask us who we were and what we were doing,” said Alvarado. “All we were doing was pulling weeds and they were so thankful and appreciative of what we were doing. I didn’t realize how much work goes into these parks and how important they are.”

The fourth trip to Detroit, Mich. was of a whole other breed and initiative. Instead of volunteering their labor, students traveled to the mid-west to help out LGBT out-reach organizations to develop community aid for this commonly abused demographic. Helping secure LGBT-friendly doctors and compiling a victims services database, the students got to see into a whole other world they had never experienced, and not necessarily one they were comfortable with.

“Detroit is the poorest city I have ever seen,” said senior and group leader of the Michigan trip, Nick McKenna. “It’s life or death there. When the car first pulled through the town, everyone went silent. It was like culture shock.”

But the students found inspiration in the organizations they worked with and the people they were helping, seeing the positives in each stronghold they developed and becoming inspired to help more.”

“I didn’t realize people were still so hostile to the LGBT community,” said McKenna. “It’s 2010, isn’t it? But organizations would hang up and call us faggots. It made me want to bring this fight back to Boston and do something here.”

Though applications for Alternative Winter Break are not being accepted any longer, the S.O.U.L.S Office is still accepting applications for Alternative Spring Break 2011 and is looking to expand the program even further.