Collegiate Times

While some students are planning beach vacations or even a full week of home-cooked meals from mom, 20 Hokies are preparing for hurricane reconstruction and a hike up the Appalachian Trail.

Virginia Tech’s YMCA was founded in 1873.

Since then, the organization has formed “alternative service breaks,” a program where students pay their way to give back to communities over their fall, winter or spring breaks.

These alternative service breaks are traditionally led and coordinated by students.

“Students are capable of leading these programs and put their own strengths to the test by managing group dynamics and safety,” said Sandy Wirt, associate director of YMCA Student Programs. The programs generally include eight to 10 students, including two student leaders.

Originally launched in the 1980s, the program has included trips to the Gulf Coast, South Dakota, Florida and the Dominican Republic.

“Students got to see really diverse organizations with a variety of needs from the homeless to only Spanish-speaking communities,” Wirt said. “The point is to push people’s boundaries beyond the comfort of our own experiences we have on a day-to-day basis.”

This spring break offers two service trips. The first opportunity is a reconstruction service in Galveston, Texas, an area that is still recovering from Hurricane Ike, which hit in September 2008. Sarit Cliffer, a junior mechanical engineering major, is one of the leaders for this trip.

Cliffer, who has now led several trips, is a student representative on the YMCA Board of Directors as well as the YMCA council.

“I love volunteering,” Cliffer said. “It’s construction based projects that show the difference you’ve made.”

This year’s service project hits particularly close to home for Cliffer.

“I was born in Galveston and have wanted to go back,” said Cliffer, “and this opportunity has provided the chance.”

Though the trips are focused on service and hard work, they have their lighter moments.

On Cliffer’s first trip as a leader in Waveland, Miss., the homeowners did not inform youth coordinator Kenny Mills what colors to paint a closet, so the group jokingly suggested maroon and orange.

“The next day, the guy comes in with maroon and orange paint and we made a Tech logo in order to leave our mark,” Cliffer said.

While 10 Hokies plan to reconstruct in Texas, the other all-female trip involves a hike on the Appalachian Trail.

These Tech students will partner with women’s shelters along the trail in order to pay a tribute to a Tech alumna who was killed on her adventure up the mountain.

The book, “Eight Bullets: One Woman’s Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence” by Claudia Brenner, inspired the trip.

The story is about Brenner and her partner, who was killed as a result of anti-gay violence during an Appalachian Trail adventure they took together.

“The story struck a chord with me because I want to hike the Appalachian Trail one day,” said trip leader Ayla Wilk, a junior chemistry and biochemistry major. “I always hear people asking me if I’m going by myself, and I feel like it’s because I’m a girl.”

Wilk is looking forward to the trip because it combines her passion for the outdoors and her desire to motivate women.

“I see that girls are more cautious,” Wilk said, “and I want an answer and a way to challenge that viewpoint so women can overcome that stigma and fear that surround us because of stories like ‘Eight Bullets.’”

While the upcoming spring break trips are full, Wirt urges those students interested in volunteering to contact her.

“These opportunities will change your life,” Wirt said. “It sounds really cliche, but when a trip is done right and the work is meaningful, and not necessarily meaningful to you but meaningful to the organization, you really come to respect how much of a role you can play in a short period of time.”

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 9 issue of the Collegiate Times.