There are many organizations around the Sam Houston campus; some focus towards academics, some to extracurricular activities, others to volunteer opportunities.
The Bearkat Service Break (BSB) is a secular state funded organization dedicated to volunteer work during Spring break every year. Their goal is to expose willing students to some of the social and cultural issues that raise social awareness and advocate social change.
The organization has been on campus for some time.
“We have been doing this for a long time, around 6 or 7 years,” BSB member Mikayla White said.
This year there will be two separate trips during the break; One to New Orleans, the other to Perryville, Arkansas. The New Orleans trip will take place from March 12th to 18th, and the Perryville trip will be from March 11th to 17th.
On the trip to New Orleans, titled Paws for Spring Break, students will be performing multiple activities.
“We will be working with New Orleans Animal Rescue. with cats and dogs, cleaning up their kennels, walking them, also laundry, plus sweeping and mopping.” Said BSB member Ashton Myers.
“We will be staying at an old church. We will have a little play day, we will go to the aquarium, the zoo, or we will do a hop on-hop off tour around the city,” Myers said. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn up to 25 service hours during each trip.
The other trip to Perryville, also known as “Llama tell ewe about Heifer Ranch”, will have the students travel to the Heifer International Ranch.
“We are helping out at the ranch to learn about sustainable agriculture, so will be doing some maintenance, mending fences, raking leaves, and just generally helping out,” said White.
Students who are interested in attending either of these trips will need to fill out the application by February 2nd, it can be found online at http://www.shsu.edu/dept/leadership-initiatives/cls/asb.html.
Only actual students with BearKat Onecards are eligible to apply. When filling out the application, students will have the option to select which trip the wish to attend, if there is no space for that trip they may be able to attend the other.
After the applications have all been submitted only 8 students will be permitted to attend each trip. With an end total of an 11-man team, consisting of those 8 students, 1 faculty member, and 2 site leaders.
The site leaders are students left in charge of the trip, their responsibilities are to ensure the goals of the trip are accomplished. Those who have been accepted are expected to make two payments of $100 each, the first will be due on February 13, the second on the 27. Those payments will cover the costs of transportation, lodging and meals, and any extra leisure expenses must come out of pocket.
Any additional questions about the organization or the trips themselves, students can visit the site online, or visit Leadership Activities in the LSC room 328.