Alternative Spring Break will travel to Atlanta this year to help end the peril teenagers go through daily as they try to make the decision of what to do after school ends. Their choice often leads to violence, drugs or promiscuity.
Kolen Hatchetts remembers his experiences at Grady High School in East Point, Ga., so vividly they might have happened yesterday. He reminisces over the first time he donned a cardinal red and gray marching band uniform as he took the field during a halftime show against Carver High School. He remembers the music played and the ice sculpted centerpiece in the gymnasium during his freshman year homecoming dance.
“[The theatre] was right down the street from my neighborhood; me and the kids from my high school and other surrounding neighborhoods went just about every weekend,” said Hatchett, a junior clinical laboratory science major.
Overtime, the Magic Johnson Theatre became less of a family friendly environment and more of a haven for youth violence, Hatchett said.
“People fought all the time outside of Magic Theatre,” Hatchett said. “I feel like it’s really because they had nothing better to do. If kids weren’t really involved in extracurricular [activities] at school, then there weren’t many options; it was boring. That’s why they got in trouble.”
Hatchett said a lack of activities and outlets for youth is a serious problem in Atlanta.
“There isn’t much for you to do outside of school activities. I mean we have places like the movie theatre but even that gets ruined because [people] don’t know how to act,” Hatchett said. “They really need something positive.”
To help tackle the issue of youth development in Atlanta, Alternative Spring Break (ASB) 2010 has added the city as one of its destinations this year along with Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.
“Crime activity is big there because there is nothing for the youth to do under the age of 21, so we are really focusing in on youth development programs,” Erica Jai Lindsay, student coordinator of ASB 2010, said.
Since 1996, ASB has taken Howard University students to communities in need and assisting them with public service missions. This year’s theme is, “Reclaiming our Ground,
Rebuilding our Communities, Recommitting to our Legacy.”
Over the past couple of years, ASB has become very popular among the student body.
“I went on Alternative Spring Break my freshman year when we all went to New Orleans,” said Domenio Smith, junior public relations major. “I liked how we got to go somewhere and help someone out. It opened my eyes to the trouble that people are going through. I definitely have expectations of going on ASB again this year.”
Students are selected to be a part of Alternative Spring Break from an application process.
Because there are five cities to choose from, students are able to select which city they would prefer to work with. However, the city requested is not always guaranteed.
“Some cities are more popular than others,” said Lindsay, junior film production major. “We go off of the applicant’s interest statement and find out where he or she will be most impacted and impactful.”
From March 13 to March 21, ASB plans to try to make an impact on each of its five destinations, especially in Atlanta.
“With Atlanta, we are building from the ground up, so it is definitely exciting,” Lindsay said. “We are hoping to get into some of the schools, talk to students and see where the needs lie.”
The first Alternative Spring Break Interest Meeting for students wishing to participate in the trip is today at 5 p.m. in Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel.
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