From January 3-13, Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Government Dr. Mike Hendricks, graduate student Katie Sebok, and undergraduate political science minor Maddie McNab spent 10 days with a group of Illinois State University students in Sarapiquí, Costa Rica on an Alternative Winter Break (AWB) trip.
During the trip, they stayed with a host family while working in local communities building stoves, septic tanks, bathrooms/showers, and gardens. They also had the opportunity to interact with many children and learned to pick pineapples.
Alternative Breaks, a student organization supported by the Center for Civic Engagement, provides Illinois State students with opportunities to enact social change. Alternative Breaks hosts local, national, and global service trips to help meet needs of communities. Students can volunteer to help build homes to address affordable housing, feed those facing food insecurity, tutor young children, and much more.
This was Hendricks’ first Alternative Break Trip, and he served as the trip advisor. Sebok and McNab have served on previous trips (both domestically and internationally) and on the Alternative Breaks’ executive board.
