Alternative Break - History

History

Student led initiatives, now known as alternative breaks, began on college campuses in the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of an overall surge of interest in institutionalizing community service on college campuses. Rather than travel to a traditional spring break location, groups of students came together to form a new community that was immersed in education on social issues, service work, and reflection.

In 1991, Michael Magevney and Laura Mann, two recent graduates who had been very involved in building a successful alternative break program at Vanderbilt University, gained the support of then Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt and founded a national nonprofit organization called Break Away: The Alternative Break Connection. Their purpose was to gather the resources and best practices for the alternative spring break programs that had been established on multiple campuses across the U.S. Break Away, began as a modest resource center for alternative breaks and continues to be the national organization dedicated to developing lifelong active citizenship through quality alternative break programs. Break Away's development and national growth was supported and facilitated by leveraging the national network of campus service programs built by the Campus Outreach Opportunity League. COOL's National Conference provided a great platform to engage college students interested or involved in alternative breaks from all over the nation.

For the last two decades, there has been a consistent increase in the number of colleges and universities with alternative break programs. This growth accelerated in the mid 2000's, and has been attributed to two factors: 1) the institutionalization of volunteer service as an integral part of the college experience, 2) the overwhelming interest in service work along the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.