Service and Learning Trips
Each trip incorporates 8 components of a quality alternative break, which include Strong Direct Service, Orientation, Education, Training, Reflection, Reorientation, Diversity, and Full Engagement.
Alternative Breaks is a year long program where participants meet weekly to learn about their trip’s social justice issue and the community they are working with, discuss logistics, engage in training and reflection activities, and coordinate fundraising.
AB Public Health
Bali, Indonesia • Summer Break • June 15-29, 2024 (Trip 1) OR July 6-20, 2024 (Trip 2)
A cohort of UC San Diego students will learn the multifaceted perspectives of medicine through visits to non-governmental organizations that promote alternative methods to western medicine.
Throughout the trip, students will look at the social issues of access to care and the importance of religion and tourism in the Balinese culture. For the first week of the trip, students will assist with administering preventative health check-ups to the local community with medical students from Bali. The students will also have an opportunity to deliver health education workshops about exercise, nutrition, and hygiene to local youth in the second week of service.
AB Sustainability
Comalapa, Guatemala • Winter Break • December 16-23, 2023
Climate change is a pressing global issue where our actions today will determine the future. As climate change affects every single one of us, there needs to be collective action to reduce the impact of climate change and work toward a more sustainable future. The focus of this break will look at gaining a new perspective in climate change with a focus on sustainability and economic development. By providing direct service, participants will have the opportunity to repurpose materials in green building for a communities’ needs.
In partnership with A Long Way Home, UCSD students will explore the Comalapa area of Guatemala and learn how sustainable practices such as green building promote the economic opportunity to the people of Comalapa. This will lead to conversation around short-term and long-term solutions to environmental justice while thinking critically about how we can do our part in all areas of the world.
AB Disaster Relief
New Orleans, LA • Spring Break • March 23-30, 2024
For this alternative break, students will travel to New Orleans, LA to learn about the devastation of natural disasters and communities that are still facing the impact of previous floods and hurricanes. In partnership with local non-profits, students will provide hands on work to constructions sites in rebuilding locations and learn about community resiliency in the face of disaster.
While here, students will learn about the enduring effect on New Orleans from each natural disaster that occurs. Through a historical lens, participants will reflect on how inequity affects race political power, policy, and environmental justice. In understanding these systemic and rooted issues, students will discuss what change looks like and how that impacts the whole country.
AB Voting Equity and Access
Atlanta, GA • Spring Break • March 23-30, 2024
In the most recent history of the United States, voting access and equity has been a large conversation. The idea of who can vote, how they are able to utilize their voting power, and providing factual information of political candidates has been one that has shifted the social landscape of our country in a more impassioned way.
In partnership with local NGOs and community leaders, this group will learn about the historical and political climate of Atlanta, GA. Through discussion and educational outlets, students will have the chance to hear from people who work in the political system, organizations who are dedicated to ensuring everyone eligible is registered to vote, and experts about what impact the increasing conversation around voting equity has had on their city and the larger country.
AB Body and Reproductive Justice
Austin, TX • Spring Break • March 23-30, 2024
In this alternative break experience in Austin, we will learn, understand and advocate for body and reproductive health, rights, and justice. This Alternative Break trip aims to educate and raise awareness about the history of period poverty and stigma, abortion rights, contraception methods, hormone therapy, and current efforts to promote sexual health and reproductive rights in Texas. We seek to analyze the past, present, and future of the issue, and use the knowledge gained to further our activism regarding this issue in our local community and beyond.
This program will explore the progress and pitfalls of state and federal legislation addressing access to both body and reproductive healthcare by giving students the opportunity to hear directly from healthcare providers and activists on the frontlines of changing social attitudes and policy. The historic overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 has thrust this issue at the center of national conversation, and participants will be empowered to become agents of change during this critical time.
AB Weekends
AB Weekend 2023-2024: Coming Soon!
