MSU BreaksAway Program

The mission and purpose of this program is to cultivate in MSU students a spirit of community involvement and to nurture service leaders who will give back to our state, nation, and the world. MSU students work together with communities around the U.S. to promote life-long community involvement and critical thinking about our societal challenges and the roles each one of us can play in addressing those challenges.

Program Structure

Trips are organized by MSU staff members and led by two MSU student Site Leaders over the spring break week. Starting in the 2006-2007 academic year OCI is offering weekend BreaksAway trips to locations in the state of Montana, one each semester.

Each year OCI staff identifies sites around the country that are willing to offer our students the ultimate in experiential learning. We seek out organizations that are addressing needs in their community, are willing to give our students the hands-on opportunity to be part of their work, and are willing to share with our students the who, what, how, and why of these community challenges. Our intention is to provide assistance to those organizations in meeting their goals and objectives while giving the students the chance to learn about people, places, problems, and solutions that differ, perhaps, from the challenging scenarios we face here in the Bozeman area or Montana in general.

Trips are filled on a first come, first serve basis and students pay a fee to participate. The fee covers the cost of transportation (vehicle rental, mileage charges, gas), and some food expenses. Site Leaders apply for their positions and are selected each fall semester to lead a spring break group. Site Leaders receive a refund of half the trip fee upon their return to campus in exchange for taking on the additional responsibility of this leadership role.

Groups travel together to the host community in a university vehicle to serve with the host organizations Monday through Friday for a typical “work day” over the spring break week. The groups of students plan and organize communal meals, evening activities and fun/interesting stops on the sometimes long road trips to and from the host community. The student groups are typically housed in space donated to us by local churches in an effort to keep trip costs to a minimum.

Feedback from Past Participants

“This was one of the best experiences of my undergraduate education. I made great friends who I still keep in contact with, got to travel to a place that I might not have seen otherwise, and at the end of the week I felt like I had made an impact.”

“I really enjoyed my experience as a site leader because it was fun to be able to plan and get to know our team members before we left for the trip. The actual service part of the trip was very rewarding.”

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 4/29/08