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Community Outreach

Alternative Breaks & Immersion Programs

What is an Alternative Break?
Alternative Break and Immersion Programs are service-learning experiences designed to heighten participants’ awareness of critical social issues, enhance their individual growth, and prepare them for lifelong social action. Each weekend or weeklong trip integrates service, reflection and education and focus on topics as varied as poverty, hunger, housing, healthcare, and disaster relief. Trips are offered throughout the year in local and national destinations. Please see "Trip Descriptions" on the right hand menu for more specific information.

What makes these trips "alternative"?
Alternative Breaks give students an opportunity to meet new people, gain new experiences and to step away from traditional learning and living. These breaks provide a full immersive experience in the population, culture, and social issue that each trip focuses on. Each trip will define how they choose to define “alternative” and will integrate that into their programs, however all trips are entirely drug and alcohol-free.

Alternative Breaks at UConn focus on three major categories to ensure an all encompassing service-learning experience. The above image, also known as The Triangle of a Quality Alternative Break is created by the equal presence of the three major components: Education, Strong Direct Service, and Reflection. Community Outreach’s programs use the uniform blend of these elements to construct impactful and lasting experiences for students, faculty and staff.

Strong Direct Service
Each day participants will partake in service projects that will be directly incorporated with the social issue facing the community they are working in. Participants may be working with varying populations, different age groups, and in different locations.

Education
Education is an important part of every experience and occurs during pre, on-site, and post trip activities. This educational component aims at helping the students better understand the systemic causes of the problems they encounter in the projects.

Reflection
Time is set aside each day of the experience for participants to collectively and individually reflect upon the day’s happenings and personal experiences. Reflection helps to achieve one of the principal goals of an Alternative Break, which is to help the participant through a stage of personal development.

Week Long Trips

Weekend Trips