During Spring Break, many people take the time to relax and catch up on sleep, travel with their family, or party in Miami. Although all those options will give you some nice memories to bring back to the remainder of the semester, I decided to take up an opportunity that Rowan offers its students to make a difference during Spring Break. Eight other students and I, with an advisor, traveled down to Natural Bridge, VA to volunteer for the week at the Natural Bridge State Park. We took a van ride down to spend the week carving trails, cutting down trees, and making benches for the park visitors. It wasn’t easy work; there was a lot of manual labor that went into each 8-hour work day. I was cramped, sore, and sweaty all week, but it was for sure the mental break that I needed after working so hard all semester and right before finals week.
Some of us eating lunch on a bench on a nice cliff area
Even though I’m taking a break, here is the trails where we were working each day to tamper down
Me drilling in nails to make a bench
The whole gang on a beautiful overpass
Morning view of a hike in the National Park
Views from the top of Devil’s Marbleyard, a popular hiking spot
THE Natural Bridge in Natural Bridge, Virginia
Our Alternative Spring Break was sponsored by the American Hiking Society, who sent out an amazing photographer named Wes to take photos of us working and enjoying the beautiful scenery. This is a trip I would highly recommend to anyone who likes to be outdoors or volunteer, because you not only get to give back, but you make some amazing friends along the way☺