News 2024: UMassD students return from alternative spring break trips

From Portugal to Panama, UMassD students use spring break to make a difference

Forty UMass Dartmouth students departed for Europe, Central America, Florida, and the nation's capital for spring break, but not for a week of leisure on sandy beaches. This year, a growing number of students opted for alternative spring break trips, choosing service, engagement, and career growth over rest and recreation.

From promoting sustainability practices to international companies in Panama to health education in the Azores and providing domestic hurricane and hunger relief, read on to learn about selfless acts and impactful contributions made by UMassD students.

Nursing students "Bridge the Atlantic" to Portugal 

Now in its 8^th year, Bridging the Atlantic is an international alliance in community health among American and Azorean nursing students and faculty at UMass Dartmouth and the University of the Azores in Portugal. Each year during spring break, UMassD nursing majors travel to the Azores and tour hospitals and healthcare centers to better understand the healthcare system in another country. While there, students and faculty from both institutions, along with community agencies, work together to prepare a symposium.

"Bridging the Atlantic was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will be forever grateful for. I learned so much about other cultures and healthcare systems while making great friends along the way," said Jordan Soufy '25.

"In Portugal, hospitals are not only buildings, but sanctuaries of health where every patient is treated with dignity and respect. I will take this experience with me to my clinical practice," added Sydney Boland '25.

The Azorean team will arrive at UMassD on April 9. This year's project, "Bridging Borders: Migration and Health," focuses on the health of migrants. Efforts have begun to reach migrants through a resource fair and educational materials will be created based on data collected at the fair. Bridging the Atlantic was created and is led by Associate Professor of Nursing Dr. Maryellen Brisbois

"I learned so much about other cultures and healthcare systems while making great friends along the way."

Sustainability in Panama

Undergraduate students in majors across campus completed the first half of a reciprocal exchange with Universidad Technologica de Panama (UTP), sending 7 students to Central America to work with their UTP classmates to help Panamanian and international firms understand the impact of their environmental, sustainability, and governance initiatives.

"This has been an amazing experience working with the Panamanian students and getting a better grasp and understanding of how different companies globally are doing their part to help lower their carbon emissions," said senior political science major, Nicole Kach '24. "This class is nothing like I've ever taken before, as it is the bridge between the classroom and a career." 

The Advanced Seminar in Sustainability course (SUS 450) is co-taught by Jamie Jacquart, assistant director of campus sustainability, and entrepreneurship lecturer Peter Karlson in a unique program that brings students from a variety of majors together and centers on the United Nations' sustainable development goals. The class looks forward to welcoming their UTP classmates to Dartmouth when they visit campus April 15-19.

Honors pre-law students tour D.C.

Ten pre-law students in the Honors College spent their week in the nation's capital, visiting historic landmarks and museums, watching the House of Representatives vote on immigration policies, and walking into the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.

"We didn't stay still from the moment we arrived in D.C.," says first-year political science major and pre-law student Serena Saade. "People say you should try to learn something new every day. This week, we learned something impactful every hour. I had an amazing time and would do it again 100 times over. Almost everything in D.C. is free if you sign up in advance. We didn't pay a cent to walk into the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, national museums, and more."

Sitting in The House Gallery, the group got a wave from N.Y. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and listened to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi address the floor. The group also got to have a conversation with Massachusetts 9th District Representative Bill Keating in his office.

Hurricane relief in Fort Myers, Florida

The Society for Community Leaders organized a trip for 8 students to work with Community Collaborations International (CCI) to assist hurricane relief efforts in Fort Myers, Florida. There, they provided direct relief to families, individuals, and organizations still recovering from Hurricane Ian and subsequent flooding.

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Food Justice 

Through the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement, 5 students participated in the Food Justice Alternative Spring Break, learning about local and national food insecurity, working on farms, and making and distributing food to those in need. 

"I learned quite a bit about farming, specifically tilling," said first-year student Karen Ferriera '27, seen below using a broad fork at the Share the Harvest Community Farm. "I also learned a lot about farmers and what their daily lives look like." 

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