Alternative Breaks
UPDATE: We are planning to recruit ASB Coordinators in March for Spring 2024! Please subscribe to our newsletter for more information as it becomes available.
For additional questions regarding the Alternative Break program contact judithsa@usc.edu.
The Volunteer Center’s Alternative Breaks (AB) program cultivates a unique opportunity for students and staff/faculty advisors to engage in service learning and volunteerism in communities outside of the Los Angeles area. These service learning trips help participants make tangible connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they will encounter once they have jobs and experiences outside the university. In addition, these trips allow USC to create valuable, long-lasting relationships in the communities in which we work.
The Volunteer Center has offered USC students the opportunity to explore numerous issues across the U.S. since 1992, when we began to take students to the Navajo Nation in Utah. Since then, we have built long-lasting partnerships with governmental, non-profit and community organizations throughout the country. The opportunity to travel while engaging in community service continues to be an important element of the unique USC experience. Every year, the locations of the trips changes based on student interest, community need, and our budget. You can see which service trips we have hosted in past years below.
Alternative Break Trips for the ResEd Experience The Volunteer Center and Residential Education are partnering to offer the Alternative Breaks as part of the ResEd Experience to the residents of several of its residential colleges. We piloted this partnership in 2017-2018 with AWB Hurricane Relief and ASB Utah, and we hope to offer more opportunities every year. USC Village residents may apply to the ResEd Experience trip belonging to their respective ResEd college and/or to the AB trips open to everyone. ResEd trips are free for residents of that college, but – once you accept – there is a cancellation fee if you drop from the trip.
This academic year, the Volunteer Center will not run its own Alternative Break programs. We are willing to lend our support and expertise to other departments and student groups that are running domestic or international trips. However, we didn’t receive enough applications from student leaders to justify running our full ASB Program. We will make a strong effort in March 2023 to market the trip coordinator application to students to get a great pool of student leaders for trips in Spring 2024!
Please sign up for our newsletter for updates about Alternative Spring Breaks!
You can read about our trips below.
No upcoming trips for 2022
There are no trips planned for 2022. Please check back closer to 2023 spring semester
Financial Assistance for Trips
So you want to travel on an alternative service break but you’re not sure if you can afford the entire cost of your trip right now? The Volunteer Center wants its Alternative Breaks Program to be as accessible as possible to all USC students.
Residential Education Trips
The Volunteer Center and Residential Education are partnering to offer the Alternative Breaks as part of the ResEd Experience to the residents of several of its residential colleges.
Past Trips
The opportunity to travel while engaging in community service continues to be an important element of the unique USC experience.