It was her junior year, and Mary Jo Ryan, now 23, spent Spring Break volunteering in Atlanta. The most influential place she said she volunteered was a substance abuse rehabilitation house. Ryan and her team of fellow students had been there only five or six hours when, after dinner, the men shared openly, even crying, about their dependency issues. For Ryan, it was an experience that continues to influence her today.
Ryan went to Atlanta with a group of 12 students from MU, all of whom wanted an alternative Spring Break instead of one spent at a beach. Alternative Spring Break is an organization that works in conjunction with the Office of Community Involvement under the umbrella of MU's Student Life Office.
The organization sends teams of students to do service projects in areas affected by social or environmental issues across the United States. Last year, eight teams of students participated. Students worked in domestic abuse shelters and at soup kitchens and assisted disadvantaged children and the homeless. They helped endangered animals and improved shelters and infrastructure in communities.
Alternative Spring Break began in 1991. According to its Web site, the mission has been to "educate a diverse group of students about specific social and environmental issues by immersing them in communities across the nation to engage in meaningful, direct service" and to "build future leaders that are active, conscientious citizens with knowledge and concern for solving our nation's most pressing social and environmental problems."
The trip not only made an impact on Ryan, she said, but it made a difference in the lives of those the students were serving.
"Our example, just being there, made a difference in (the men's) lives. We were what they wanted for their kids (to become)," Ryan said.