Current Trips

Fall 2024 Alternative Break Experiences

Fall Break Plans? Want to serve with a group of committed students who want to create positive change? Well join our 2024 Fall Break Alternative Break Experience, October 6-8, 2024! We will be serving the New Bern area as we volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity. Transportation and meals will be provided. Pending budget, lodging may be provided in the New Bern area. If the budget does not account for lodging, the experience will be each (full) day to and from campus; transportation included and provided. 

APPLY HERE

Please note: This ABE will require lifting items and managing construction equipment. Please feel free to contact Lauren Howard at howardl16@ecu.edu with any questions pertaining to abilities to partake in this ABE.

Spring 2025 Alternative Break Experiences

The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement will host one local Alternative Break Experience during ECU’s spring break. Registration and information can be found on GivePulse. Registration for Spring ABE will open January 2025.

Apply for Spring ABE – coming soon

    Cape Carteret: Environmental Impact and Justice
    • Dates: March 3-7, 2024
    • Description: Participants will serve with the NC Coastal Federation. This ABE is our longest standing ABE, for over 10 years. Participants will walk away with a better knowledge and understanding of their role as it pertains to environmental justice and impact. Please note, this experience does require moderate physical activity (carrying 10-15 pound bags of oyster shells) to restore shorelines.
    • Sponsored by: Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement
    • Location: Atlantic Beach (Carteret County), NC
    • Cost: $40.00 (cost includes travel, lodging, service activities, and most food)
    • Limited Spots: 6-8 students
    • Contact: For further information, please contact Alex Dennis, Senior Assistant Director in CLCE at dennisa15@ecu.edu.

    Also, for spring break 2025, we will offer one short-term study abroad program in Northern Ireland through our partner organization, Amizade. See below for more details and follow the link to apply.

    Serve & Learn in Northern Ireland

    March 9-16, 2025
    Derry and Belfast, Northern Ireland

    APPLY HERE

    Experience the richness of both rural and urban settings, visit both Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods and discover Belfast, a city like no city in the world. Participants will gain a first-hand look at the history of the Troubles, meeting with ex-combatants, politicians and youth workers with both experiences in the conflict and peace process. They will meet with local community and professional leaders; serve on projects developed by community leaders; and explore the country and culture through field trips, local presenters and community events. To affect change on personal and interpersonal levels, structured group reflections and shared learning experiences will enable students to:

    • Strengthen relationships and create shared context
    • Survey the community and develop the courage to open themselves to new perspectives
    • Raise difficult issues and foster critical reflection
    • Link Northern Irish issues to global issues
    • Establish creative tension between the current reality and the future

    Amizade has created this program to push participants outside of their normal comfort zones and to challenge their assumptions and knowledge about Northern Ireland. Participants will leave with a strengthened capacity to identify and address key opportunities to develop, support and advocate for change in their home communities.

    Program costs:

    • Program fee: $1,600 (includes lodging, food, ground transportation, and all program activities; payment plans are available – Pay online here.)
    • $75 application fee and $15 travel insurance fee payable to Office of Global Affairs
    • Roundtrip flight to Dublin (average price from RDU-DUB is $575; students will purchase their own flights separately, but all will travel together.)

      This program is offered through ECU’s Student Life, Honors College, and Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, and open to all students. Spaces are limited. Scholarships are available.

      For more information, please contact:

        Summer 2025 Global Alternative Break Experience

        Global Community Programs

        The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement offers a variety of global community opportunities that immerse ECU community members in diverse environments. These programs address a range of social and cultural issues through the exchange of ideas, personal reflection, critical thinking, and academic concepts beyond the classroom. What’s more, these opportunities challenge all participants to critically reflect upon their role in the world and their ability to make lasting change.

        For summer 2025, we will offer one short-term study abroad program in Montego Bay, Jamaica through our partner organization, Amizade. See below for more details.

        Serve & Learn in Jamaica

        May 12-19, 2025
        Montego Bay, Jamaica

        APPLY HERE BY JAN. 31, 2025

        Jamaica is Amizade’s hallmark example of our Fair Trade Learning model. In the last 20 years, over 1,500+ participants have served and learned with our partner organization, the Petersfield Galloway Benevolent Society (PGBS), in the sugar producing area of Petersfield. Through this long-standing partnership, programs focus on cultural immersion, social action, and community-based learning. Amizade participants are uniquely embedded into Jamaican culture through homestays and a wide variety of community engagement activities. In addition to community development and issues surrounding globalization, Amizade’s programs can focus on other themes, like education system structures, grassroots economic development, race and gender, community leadership and youth civic engagement. Participants will arrive to/depart from Montego Bay and spend the program in one of two neighboring communities: Petersfield or Galloway. They will meet with local community and professional leaders; serve on projects developed by and implemented with PGBS members; and explore the country and culture through field trips, local presenters and community events. To affect change on personal and interpersonal levels, structured group reflections and shared learning experiences will enable students to:

        • Strengthen relationships and create shared context
        • Survey the community and develop the courage to open themselves to new perspectives
        • Raise difficult issues and foster critical reflection
        • Link Jamaican issues to global issues
        • Establish creative tension between the current reality and the future

        Amizade has created this program to push participants outside of their normal comfort zones and to challenge their assumptions and knowledge about Jamaica. Participants will leave with a strengthened capacity to identify and address key opportunities to develop, support and advocate for change in their home communities.

        Program costs:

        • Program fee: $1,400 (includes lodging, food, ground transportation, and all program activities; payment plans are available – Pay online here.)
        • $75 application fee and $15 travel insurance fee payable to Office of Global Affairs.
        • Roundtrip flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica (average price from RDU-MBJ is $450; students will purchase their own flights separately, but all will travel together.)

        This program is offered through ECU’s Honors College and Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, and open to all students. Spaces are limited. Scholarships are available.

        For more information, please contact:

         

        Previous Alternative Break Experiences

        • Urban Poverty – Atlanta, Georgia
        • Habitat for Humanity – Eustis, Florida
        • Poverty and Healthcare – Baltimore, Maryland
        • Environmental Justice, Sustainability, and Economic Impact – Atlantic Beach, North Carolina
        • Staycation: Poverty and Youth – Greenville, North Carolina
        • Adventure Programs – Florida
        • Leadership and Positive Change – Charleston, South Carolina & Savannah, Georgia
        • Community Focus on Health and Wellness – Roanoke, Virginia
        • Creating Health Futures in Eastern North Carolina – Wilson, North Carolina
        • Youth Empowerment and the Justice System – Columbia, South Carolina
        • Serving the LGBTQ Community – Atlanta, Georgia and Asheville, North Carolina
        • Environmental Justice – Asheville, North Carolina
        • Communication, Conflict, and Community Engagement – Belfast, Northern Ireland
        • Hurricane Relief, Land Rights, and Environmental Justice – San Juan, Puerto Rico
        • Women Changing Little Washington – Washington, North Carolina
        • Hurricane Recovery – Wilmington, North Carolina
        • Housing and Hurricane Recovery – New Bern, North Carolina
        • Justice and Gender Equity – Durham, NC
        • Exploring Citizenship – City of Oaks
        • Environmental Impact and Justice – Cape Carteret