Transit In the News

Spring break has finally arrived for UC Davis senior Dan Xie, and with the specter of adult life looming before her, she is welcoming the week as her "last hurrah of fun" as a college student.

There will be no mai tais on the beach. No throngs of sunburned bodies to herald the breaking of spring. Only miles and miles of California road, under the speeding wheels of her bicycle.

Xie, a 20-year-old San Diego native, will pedal away her vacation along the route of the proposed high-speed rail line, trying to raise awareness about a project she thinks could be an answer to global warming.

To her, the call of activism was much stronger than the call of Cancún, Mexico. "When it comes down to it, I could be doing something productive and fun, or just fun," Xie said.

She is part of a generation increasingly choosing the former.

This month, an estimated 50,000-plus college students across the country have opted for alternatives to the sinful spring break glorified by MTV and the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise, according to Break Away, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that serves as a resource for universities organizing alternative breaks.

"From what we see, that is the norm," said Samantha Giacobozzi, 23, programs director for Break Away.

Her group, founded by two Vanderbilt University students in 1991, has seen a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in participation each year for the past five years – which is as long as the group has been tracking data.

Several themes emerge among alternative spring break programs, Giacobozzi said, including poverty and education. Recently, student activists have expanded their interests to include immigration issues, AIDS in Africa and prison reform. Last year, Break Away hosted a planning session about service in refugee resettlements.

"If you can think of any social issue or social problem in the United States or internationally, these students are typically interested in it," Giacobozzi.

Even MTV has gotten on the altruistic bandwagon. The network's Think branch, launched to promote youth involvement, helped the United Way jump-start its Alternative Spring Break program in 2006.

That program has grown from a fledgling group of 100 students to this year's 600.

Randy Punley, who oversees the program, said this is a motivated generation. Events like Sept. 11, the war in Iraq and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina have "perhaps first made them angry, and second of all, made them want to do something about it."

Many alternative spring break programs focus on dramatic examples of devastation or social ills in places like New Orleans or Africa. A budding program at California State University, Sacramento, however, keeps the focus here at home.

In its second year, the program is struggling to gain traction. Only 30 of the school's 28,000 students have signed up so far this year , volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the Sacramento Food Bank. (Spring break begins March 31.)

"We have enough need in our local community," said Brendan McVeigh, a coordinator at the campus Community Engagement Center. "We don't need to go far, far away to make things happen."

UC Davis hasn't had an alternative spring break program in several years. But that has not stopped students from finding their own outlets for service.

Brandy Dunlap, 19, will travel to Tijuana next week with the Davis Christian Fellowship to build homes and work with orphans. She said she is proud to go to Mexico for service, "rather than to party it up."

She might like to return – but "for good clean fun, not like 'Girls Gone Wild,' " she said. "That's not really my thing."

For a lot of students, though, spring break still just means going home to bask in the luxuries of free laundry, mom's cooking and endless hours of sleep.

Davis student Russ Sakai, 21, will travel to the mountains east of Santa Barbara to recuperate on his family's ranch. A hedonistic, drunken break might have appealed to his underage self, he said, but not now.

"Right after finals, you just want to do nothing and have no responsibility," he said.

DAN XIE

Age: 20

Hometown: San Diego

Year: Senior

Spring break plans: Xie will cycle from San Francisco to San Diego - with stops in Sacramento, Stockton, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Riverside and Anaheim - to raise awareness about the need for a high-speed rail line.

BRANDY DUNLAP

Age: 19

Hometown: Stockton

Year: Sophomore

Spring break plans: Dunlap will go to Tijuana, Mexico, to build homes and work with orphans.

RUSS SAKAI

Age: 21

Hometown: Visalia

Year: Senior

Spring break plans: Sakai will visit his family ranch east of Santa Barbara.