This is not going to be an article advertising service work. While it is definitely great, and probably the biggest reason I applied in the first place, it was not the biggest part of my experience. I walked away from my spring break feeling like I had just taken a week-long crash course and it was the best class I have ever taken.

Many schools offer alternative spring break programs, specifically Fordham has Global Outreach (GO). This provides the opportunity to do service work and learn about a different community and social justice issue during time off from school.

I recently went to Detroit for my spring GO project, and honestly have had a lot of trouble putting my experience into words. Detroit is an amazing city, currently undergoing economic disaster relief. I went with a team of 12 after preparing for 13 weeks in meetings. We partnered with Motown Mission, a local nonprofit aiming to serve the people of Detroit.

Throughout our preparation, we talked about Detroit’s financial crisis, white flight, and urban farming. But I still was shocked when we drove into the city and saw its state. After two-thirds of the population has left, there are rows and rows of abandoned houses, schools, and churches. Some have been torn down, but many remain complete destroyed or even burned.

I had never seen anything like this. Growing up, there was one abandoned house near my town, and that’s all I ever saw. But this was blocks of houses like that.

While in the city, we had speakers come to talk about issues like the Riots in 1967, Redlining, and Transportation. In all of these talks from Detroiters, I began to understand the history of the city, and what the residents feel the real problems are.

But the service work was the real classroom for me. It allowed me to interact with people in Detroit and firsthand see the solutions they want to enact. Detroit has many interlocking, complicated issues, as many cities do, and urban planners can come in and give solutions.

But the ones that have been working for the city are grassroots movements. The people aren’t going to act on movements they don’t feel will work, and they know what is best for them.

I learned so much about community and what it means to be a part of one on this project. It’s something that I couldn’t be taught in a classroom. Even learning about it before the project, I didn’t fully understand until I was there. My team grew close in preparation, but while in Detroit, I suddenly wanted to emulate the community we were so easily welcomed into. They wanted to talk to us and teach us, and we wanted to hear everything they had to say.

Every service learning project has something different to offer. My best friend went on a different GO Project, and learned about immigration. Her take away was the importance of being active in government if you have the opportunity.

That what makes these alternative break projects so amazing, especially in college. You are already learning so much in school, but here you can learn hands-on. It’s a full experience.

And specifically on my trip, we experienced ALL of Detroit, from the abandoned areas to the skyscrapers, from the history to the modern art. Its all about learning the whole thing, not just one side. And when you are there, you can see it in its entirety.

The best part about an experience like this is that anyone can participate. There are so many social justice issues that these projects study that you can find something you are passionate about or that you don’t know anything about and learn. I personally didn’t know anything about economic disaster relief, so this whole experience was a learning curve.

They will be challenging, no doubt. And to give up spring break may seem like a huge sacrifice. But your team becomes a little family, with a common goal and so much time to bond. And everything you can learn and experience makes the time off worthwhile.

Detroit was one of the best experiences of my life. I can’t fit all of my feelings into just one article (it took up 20 pages of my journal). There are so many complicated issues that I have a newfound passion for, and I would not have found had I not applied to GO.

Everyone should find an issue they are passionate about and challenge themselves to try an immersive service project. Every second of it pays off.