Break Through (alternative spring break)

Vital Stats

Kylie P

Eagle, ID

  • people helped1500
  • People Doing It 200

The Problem

In southwestern Idaho, like most other places, there is some anxiety among teenagers regarding overcoming preconceived boundaries. Most teenagers remain within their own high schools for academics and social interaction, and students from different communities rarely interact except to compete against each other. These perceived boundaries result from geographic, socioeconomic, and racial differences. Students become comfortable in their own environment and tend to stereotype students from other schools and cities. Our leadership team decided that that the strongest way to connect disparate students would be through a shared act of service and a hopefully life-changing experience. By uniting area schools in serving others, we could foster extraordinary change. We made sure that the work projects were achievable and meaningful, pushed the student volunteers but allowed opportunities to learn and have fun, and that there was lots of interaction between volunteers and with the project recipient community. Break Through came from the idea that students can travel during Spring Break to do service projects, but there is such a great need in our own community for change. By being part of the founding group of students for Break Through, I hoped that I could show other students the great feeling of helping others less fortunate, like my parents had showed me. Also, I felt it was important for teens in my community to see that service could be fun, exciting, and rewarding. One of the misconceptions about service is that as long as we give something we have made a difference. Unfortunately, people fail to understand that an important aspect of conducting a service project is attaining a true understanding of the recipient’s need rather than simply anticipating what they want. Working together with the recipient of the service to ensure that the project adequately meets their expectations is a critical step often missed.

Plan of Action

Starting in October, our Steering Committee for Break Through met weekly for 60 to 90 minutes to establish the project and plan our inaugural year. As one of four teens on the first planning team, we decided what we wanted Break Through to be and pursued resources that would be useful in our planning process. We set lofty goals that adult mentors told us would be arduous to achieve, especially to find 70 student participants from schools all around the Treasure Valley who were willing to give up their Spring Break for a service project. It was a city block of mostly sand, dirt, and rocks. OGsBAD vision, and our goal for Break Through, was to transform that empty lot into a place where OGsBAD students, the surrounding neighborhood, and the entire community could come together. We spent several months of intense planning, mapping, and fundraising for the project. We partnered with the United Way of Treasure Valley to kick off our first year of Break Through. Throughout the process we learned how to present to sponsors, and found support from the United Way Board of Directors as well as other local businesses to actualize the project. We worked with Steve Terrano, the founder and director of OGsBAD to do site planning for their newly acquired property. To find student participants, we went to High Schools all around the Treasure Valley and presented to Key Clubs, National Honors Societies, and any service oriented student organizations. In the end, we exceeded our lofty goals. Nearly seventy students from at least eight different area high schools and students from OGsBAD participated in the two-day event. Together we created a 300-foot pathway across the property complete with trees, bushes, rock, and bark. We also formed a sand volleyball court, built benches, removed walls in the building for further renovation, and painted a giant mural on an interior wall. For the second year of Break Through, we began by searching for the right recipient for our project. Upon meeting Mike Dittenber, the president of the Caldwell Housing Authority, we knew that Farmway Village was the right place to revamp a community. Mr. Dittenber told us of how many organizations had promised to bring supplies and to help out the community, but none of the projects ever worked out. Our goal was to show the community of Farmway Village that they deserved the attention and help from their community. To plan this second Break Through, we used the same planning process as our first year. The Steering Committee met weekly, starting in October, to plan the project. We presented to local businesses and worked extensively on site planning for the project. We focused on recruiting students from a wide variety of schools and succeeded in having attendance from 13 different Treasure Valley High Schools.
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Homelessness and Poverty

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