For many college students, spring break is a week that has been planned and saved for all year. However, for a lot of collegiate, it is a week to go home, relax, and envy those who are returning to school with a killer tan and loads of crazy stories from their trips. Nevertheless, there are lots of ways to spice up your spring break and make it memorable without dropping an easy $1,000 on airfare, hotels, food and alcohol.
Find out if you school has an Alternative Spring Break Program. A lot of colleges have trips over spring break to different locations around the country (or even sometimes internationally!) to take part in meaningful service learning experiences. I have never been on a “Habitat for Humanity” type of trip before, but I have heard nothing but amazing responses from those who have. Not only are you helping others who are in need of rebuilding after natural disasters, or are just living under poor conditions, have a better life, you get to go on a (usually free, or very affordable) trip and meet other students from your school who also want to give back to the community. This is a great way to spend your week off making memories with new friends, while raking in community service hours at the same time! Not to mention these trips are great résumé builders.
Take part in a job shadow experience. Get in contact with career services and ask them if they can get in touch with alumni in your field of study. If you aren’t old enough to get an internship yet (a lot of internships require a junior or senior standing), job shadowing is an amazing way to get a first-hand look into what a day in the life of your future profession may look like. Suffolk has a job-shadowing program for sophomores, in which they set you up with a shadow sponsor, and career services never has too much trouble getting alum to partake in this program. Alumni were once in your shoes and wouldn’t be wasting any of their money or much of their time, so they are usually happy to do this for future graduates of their alma mater! This is a great way to network and get your name out there for any internship or job openings they may have in the future, as well.
Go on a mini-vacation to somewhere local! Every state has their popular tourist spots. Being a Massachusetts native myself, spring break usually acts as a time to venture to Cape Cod for a few days to kick-off the warmer season that is to come. Going on a short, day to 3 or 4-day trip with a few friends (or family members!) is a great way to get away from the thought and stress of school and work and relax with a nice change of scenery. Even though up north the weather is still pretty cold in March and you won’t be lying on a beach getting tan, you can still say you went somewhere and have stories of your own to tell upon arrival back to school! Weekend trips like this are always my favorite, even if they sometimes go by too fast.
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Start shopping for spring/summer clothes! If you are like me, you have been eyeing the latest trends for spring and summer since the day after Christmas. I believe that spring break is the perfect time to officially start shopping for some new clothes for the upcoming seasons. While some girls may be returning to school with a nice tan, you will be coming back with a new wardrobe!
Get a jump-start on the summer job search. For most college kids, summer is the only time of the year that getting a job is made a #1 priority, so you can work to earn the money you will need to pay for books, food, and other needs that come up throughout the school year. The amount of people I knew last summer who came home from school and could not find summer work for the first couple of months home was shocking. It goes to show that being proactive with the job search process is key! If you have nothing else going on during spring break, this may be the perfect opportunity to go around to local businesses and ask if they will be hiring for summer help. When you think about it, after spring break there is only really a month left of school, and when you are in the process of getting a new job, interviewing and filling out paper work before being able to start is a good two-week (or more) process.
Whether you choose to be productive or not this spring break, remember that schools give us this time off to de-stress a little bit before final projects and exams kick-in. Try not to think about homework for a few days and spend this time off doing something that makes you happy, then come back to school rested and rejuvenated!