Take a Little Trip: Spring Break Encourages Some UF Students to Travel

UF Students, faculty and staff in the Dominican Republican during an Oilers Serving Abroad spring break 2016 service trip.

Whether you are basking in the sun on a Florida beach, or just catching up on your favorite Netflix shows, spring break, which occurs next week at the University of Findlay, is a time for students to unwind and relax after a stressful week of midterms.
Crystal Weitz, Director for Service and Community Engagement, guessed about 70 percentage of UF students take advantage of the time off by taking a trip away from campus and home.
Some students are not only soaking in the sun, but serving under it as well.
Oilers Serving Abroad is taking a team of eleven people, nine students and two staff members, to the Dominican Republic. They will work with children in an orphanage, and building latrines and concrete floors in a very poor community called a “Baty.” They will also be working with a university where they will get to know other college students from a whole other country.
The Dominican Republic trip won’t be all work though. Weitz said the students will have the opportunity to play games with other students in the DR as well as have a dance-off.

A Dominican Republic view photgraphed during a 2016 trip.

Thirty two UF Habitat for Humanity chapter members are also participating in a service trip. Last year they participated in a Florida house build, and this year will be doing so in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Additionally, Campus Ministry members go to different camps throughout Ohio, working hard to make them into future church summer camps. They have been doing so for the last four years.
But after mentally grueling months of studying and classroom work, some students, such as Kaitlynn Babb, an education major, are choosing to relax at home rather than travel.
“I would much rather stay home and visit family than travel right now,” said Babb, “Definitely during the summer I will be traveling a lot though.”
To look for updates on UF students serving over spring break, follow the University of Findlay on social media.