Blazer on Break

Students interested in exploring social issues through first-hand service and reflection are invited to apply for Blazers on Break, UAB’s alternative spring break program. Hosted during the academic spring break, Blazers on Break is an immersive, week-long experience designed to provide students with an opportunity to engage in direct service. Blazers on Break trips are focused on a Sustainable Development Goal. Students learn the context of the goal through the support of faculty/staff trip facilitators during Blazers on Break Orientation and pre-trip roundtable discussions. This intentional time of learning allows each volunteer to better understand the root cause, challenge themselves to think critically about the goal, and take meaningful action.

As a result of participating in Blazers on Break, each volunteer will:

Upon return, volunteers will reflect on the experience, synthesizing service, education, and community immersion. Through Blazers on Break, each participant will not only volunteer but also advance on the spectrum of service towards active citizenship.

Blazers on Break Highlights

About Alternative Breaks

As defined by Break Away (2018), a national nonprofit organization that promotes development of quality alternative break programs, alternative breaks are trips provided by a University which provides opportunities for students to engage in direct service; these trips typically last 5 to 7 days. The trip is focused on a predetermined social issue, and the location of the trip is associated with the issue.

Student Learning

The immersion in that issue begins far before the trip itself. Students learn about the location and social issue through organized group discussion prior to departing for the trip. Then, through hands-on experience, the students invest more into the issue and are able to articulate their own thoughts post-service. These trips challenge students to be compassionate while critically reflecting on their citizenship, responsibility, and opportunity to create change (Break Away, 2018).

Blazers on Break

UAB currently provides an alternative break experience for students interested in exploring social issues through first-hand service and reflection. These service trips, better known as Blazers on Break, are offered through the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership and extended to all UAB students through an application and interview process. Hosted during the academic spring break, Blazers on Break trips present 36 students with an opportunity to engage in a civic immersion experience.

The Role of the Facilitation Fellow

This experience, however, would be not possible without the commitment of professional staff and/or faculty, known as Facilitation Fellows, who execute the trips’ logistical and learning components. Facilitators commit their time and efforts to supporting the learning prior-to and during the alternative break experience.

Facilitation Fellow Learning Outcomes

By investing in Facilitation Fellows' development, students will experience higher levels of connection to faculty/staff alongside increased learning through guided reflective practices. Furthermore, as a result of participating in the Alternative Break Facilitation Fellowship, Fellows will:

• Explain how the learning components of education, orientation, and training connect to direct service and how they benefit both the community and the break team
• Recognize the difference between reflection, group building, and dialogue and understand the importance of each in the student’s experience
• Demonstrate the vision and goals of Blazers on Break through execution of a non-biased student selection process for break participants