By Carly Maitlen
Entertainment Editor

Going on Spring Break usually means all the comforts of home plus more: a sunny beach, some loud music and a lot of parties. But for a handful of Purdue students, they have opted to spend Spring Break being of service to those in need.

Students from the Wesley Foundation, University Church and St. Thomas Aquinas will be spending their Spring Break in rural communities in the Appalachian Mountains and in urban communities in New Orleans. For these students, giving of themselves has proven more rewarding than taking the week off to relax.

"I think the main reason for myself is a sense of fulfillment, a sense of fulfillment in giving back to society and to those in need," said Nick Christine, a senior in the School of Agriculture. Christine will be going on a mission trip with University Church to New Orleans.

On two past Spring Break trips, Christine has done mission work in South Carolina on the Sea Islands and in Puntagorda, Fla., where his group did roofing work and landscaping.

For Christine, working on these mission trips has given him something that he could never have obtained any other way.

"One of the biggest things is that I am there to give to society and yet the people in the areas have given back to me more than I can ever give back to them," said Christine.

He said the people in these communities offer food, entertainment and showers in their personal homes to those who are helping. "They go out of their way to grant our wishes and desires, to give us things to show their appreciation," said Christine. "That is just a big eye opener.

"A little bit goes a long ways. The little bit of work I do helps them out more than I will ever know," he said.

Leslie Boehrer, a junior in the School of Nursing, said her trip to Appalachia with St. Thomas Aquinas will be her first week-long missions trip. Two years ago, she spent a weekend in South Bend, Ind., working with Habitat for Humanity.

"The only thing we really saw was the neighborhood we were in," said Boehrer. "The part we were in was not your idea of college town. It was really rough. There was soup kitchen down the road that we had to go and get stuff from that day. You could tell that it was a really low-income area."

Mark Rogers, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, is going on the same trip as Boehrer.

"I haven't gone on any kind of a trip on Spring Break, I usually just go home. I wanted to go and help people. I went to Florida on Christmas and I didn't think I needed to do it again. I wanted to do something to help people," said Rogers. "I think basically it's going to be a wilderness area and not a lot of civilization, so I think it will be a lot of quiet time.

"Since it is a religious based thing, there will be a lot of faith building," he said.

Pastor TJ Genney from the University Church believes students do this work on their vacation for the same reasons.

"It is a time where they feel like they can make a difference," said Genney.

He said he believes that students identify with the fact that they are privileged because they get to attend Purdue and they recognize that there are needy people out there.

Phil Fiadino, campus minister at St. Thomas Aquinas, said their eight-member group will be traveling to Neon, Ky., a community that is located in Southeastern Kentucky, near Virginia. A group of Christian athletes from Iowa State University and another group from Canada will be joining them.

Fiadino said they will be working with an organization called Homes, a local organization like Habitat for Humanity.

"We're not sure of the job until we get there," said Fiadino. "That depends on the work schedule and how much of the work was completed by the group that was there the week before us." He said it is possible that they could be doing painting or landscaping if the job is to that stage when they arrive.

They will be working in Letcher County, where there is high poverty and high unemployment. Fiadino said they will be staying in a former coal mine and will be housed in what once was the office for the mine.

For a college student to spend their Spring Break in less than comfort may seem atypical.

"I think students respond to a desire within themselves to want to make a difference in other people's lives," said Fiadino. "I think students respond to a desire within themselves to help other people."

St. Thomas Aquinas has done these Spring Break mission trips for many years. For the past two years, the church has organized a trip to Haiti. However, Fiadino said this year the trip would have fallen just prior to Haiti's national elections and, for safety reasons, they were advised to cancel the trip. Four years ago, the church did trips both to the Appalachians and Haiti.

Both Boehrer and Rogers were originally planning to go on the trip to Haiti. Boehrer said once the trip was cancelled and she began to think about it; she thought it was better that they stay in the United States and help out.

"I was very disappointed when I didn't get to go to Haiti. When I started to think about it, I think there was more of a reason," she said. "I can make a difference in the U.S. People don't realize how much people need help in our community and in the community in Neon, Kentucky."

Rogers said that either way the trip would have been effective.

"I think either way would have been great," said Rogers. "I think that it is true that there are a lot of people in this country that need people's help. I don't think people are as aware of it because they don't see it."

The Wesley Foundation is taking a trip similar to that of St. Thomas Aquinas; they are also going to Appalachia. Pat Sleeth, associate campus minister at the Wesley Foundation, said the group will be driving towards a common goal: to be of service.

"They were given a building that they would like to turn into a day care," said Sleeth. "Basically, the kind of work we will be doing will be replacing windows, painting and minor repair work."

Sleeth said the mission experience with the Wesley Foundation has different aspects to it than those of other trips.

"There is one day that is set aside where the community takes our team into the local community," said Sleeth. "We will get to meet people. We will have one day as outsiders to immerse ourselves in the local community."

The community that the Wesley Foundation will be helping is similar to that of the community St. Thomas Aquinas will be visiting.

"Kent, like most of the other Appalachia (communities), is heavily dependent on coal mining," said Sleeth. "Coal mining is starting to shut down and there is high unemployment and high poverty."

For Rogers, he believes this trip will open his eyes to a number of new experiences.

"(I will be) getting an understanding of what their culture is like and what they deal with on a day to day basis that we don't," he said.

Sleeth said he believes the traditional Spring Break scene may be changing.

"I think there are more and more persons on campus who are looking to make a difference on Spring Break," said Sleeth. "More and more we're being pressed by our students to go someplace and do something that's going to make a difference.

"I think that's superb."