For some, last week's spring break was an opportunity to help the less fortunate. Students traveled across the United States and beyond to give back through activities such as building houses and tutoring disadvantaged children.
Here are the stories of four students who participated in four different trips in places ranging from Mexico to Philadelphia.
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College sophomore Danetsy Len experienced a mix of community service and tourism on her trip to New Orleans, organized by Fox Leadership and associated with Penn UNO-LATINO - Penn Undergraduates in New Orleans - Latinos Aiding Together in New Orleans.
Len and other Penn students worked with Habitat for Humanity each day from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., building two houses.
She said she was surprised by the amount of construction work she did. While Len expected to do something easy, such as painting, she ended up putting siding on a house using unfamiliar machinery.
Len said she found working on the houses and learning construction skills rewarding because she pushed herself and tried things she had never done before.
An aspect of the house-building that Len said was particularly gratifying was when the woman whose house they were working on stopped by and helped with the construction.
The group also helped with a variety of other tasks in New Orleans, including picking up trash left over from Mardi Gras celebrations.
The students also had a chance to explore the Big Easy, taking tours that included stops at Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house and at places where, according to legend, ghosts linger.
Len said she could sense the progress being made to rebuild the city following the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
She said, in some ways, the devastation was not as bad as she thought it would be.
Len added that the rebuilding was "sporadic," with some nice, rebuilt houses adjacent to boarded-up homes and vacant plots of land.
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College sophomore Landon Reitz did not travel far to perform community service.
Reitz participated in program through the organization Campus Philly and worked with a number of different groups throughout the city.
The program started March 9 with a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo to clean up garbage, which Reitz said he considered "a little lame."
Following the work at the zoo, the students worked with a group called Manna to package and prepare food for people with life-threatening illnesses.
On March 10 and 11, Reitz and the other students - who were from Penn, St. Joseph's University, and Cabrini, Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore colleges - went to the Germantown Beacon Center.
There they helped disadvantaged elementary, middle- and high-school students with their homework and prepared a presentation about the dangers of tobacco.
Reitz said he particularly liked working with the students at the Beacon Center because he learned firsthand about problems with the educational system. As a result of his experiences, he said he wants to get more involved in education-related community service.
Reitz also went on March 11 to gardens in North Philadelphia to help prepare plots of land for planting. The gardens partner with a local school that helps cultivate the produce and run the business side of their operations.
The following day, he helped beautify a recreation center for younger children by painting over graffiti. On March 13, the group had a day of reflection on their week's work.
When the students were not working, they explored the city and relaxed at the youth hostel where they were staying.
Overall, Reitz said he found his experience positive because the group sampled a variety of community service efforts and he became friends with the other students on the trip.
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In the border town of San Juan, Texas, college freshman Susan Anderson said she had an "educational experience," learning about issues immigrants face by working for La Union del Pueblo Entero, an organization that helps recent immigrants.
Anderson and her group from Civic House did clerical work for LUPE, such as advertising its affordable tax service and filing papers for its associated Community Health Clinic.
While the students' work did not require much skill, Anderson said it was important because it freed up the time of other LUPE workers.
In addition to the work, Anderson and the others went into impoverished communities, learning about the challenges the community members - mainly Hispanic documented and undocumented immigrants - have to overcome. For example, some residents of San Juan who Anderson talked to were separated from their families.
Anderson said the poverty she witnessed was "difficult to take" at first because the living conditions in the communities were poor.
However, she said she found solace in the fact that LUPE has helped to improve the quality of the community-members' lives.
She added that she also made friends with the 10 other Penn students on the trip, and that they plan to have reunions on campus.
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In an unusual spring break experience south of the border, College sophomore Alyssa Birnbaum had an "unbelievable" experience working for the NGO the American Jewish World Service, despite the challenges posed by the work and the living conditions.
About three hours from Cancun in the town of Muchucuxah, Mexico, Birnbaum and the other students created pathways and roads to make the area more suitable for tourists.
The group also learned about the health and education in the town, as well as the agricultural problems facing the area due to lack of rain.
The road-creation work, which involved clearing away rocks and carrying and unloading bags of sand, was less than ideal, according to Birnbaum.
"It was really, really hot and we were full of dirt," she said.
Another aspect of the trip Birnbaum found difficult was the sleeping arrangement. While some became accustomed to sleeping in hammocks, Birnbaum never adapted.
Nevertheless, Birnbaum said her time in Mexico was "one of the most incredible, eye-opening experiences."
Despite the language barrier, she found the natives "really welcoming." She and the other students ate in the natives' homes and played soccer with some of the boys.
Because the group found the community-service work meaningful, they found the time they spent as tourists visiting the Mayan ruins unsatisfying.
Birnbaum added that she wants to learn more about charitable causes in the future as a result of the trip.
