Whether it’s by volunteering, doing research, or getting ready for the job market, many college students around the country try to make the most of their winter breaks. Here students describe in their own words how they’ve spent or plan to spend their time off.
Morgan Bates, Dickinson College
“Would you like to come play in my orchestra in Poland?” Dickinson music professor Blanka Bednarz caught me off guard with that question. As a trumpet performance major, I had discounted the idea of studying abroad because I didn’t want to miss opportunities to play on campus. But performing internationally as the co-principal trumpeter of a professional Polish orchestra was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse, and winter break was the ideal time to do it.
I arrived in Poznan, Poland, on December 27th last year, and began rehearsals with Sinfonietta Polonia that same evening. For a week, I spent a few hours each day rehearsing our repertoire, a program of Spanish-themed music. The following week, we toured greater Poland, playing in venues ranging from local gymnasiums to a Baroque church.
Home for the holidays? Maybe, but colleges are offering a lot of tempting alternatives: research and service-learning trips, externships, elective courses, and outdoor adventures. Sorry, Mom and Dad, we might just have to FaceTime this New Year’s Eve.
The language barrier made it particularly difficult to lead a section of musicians I didn’t know, since rehearsals and concerts were conducted almost entirely in Polish. Luckily, my sectionmates spoke English, and they were happy to help translate.
These experiences abroad gave me the confidence and adaptability I will need to navigate a real-world performance scenario. The lessons I learned in Poland will ultimately help me play in any ensemble section, work under stressful and unfamiliar conditions, and communicate beyond borders. As a result, I feel prepared to take on my next winter-break endeavor: preparing for graduate-school auditions.
Nadine Elsayed, Lehigh University
Six years ago, the Hadid family left their home Bethlehem, Pa., to vacation in Tripoli, Libya, for the summer. They hoped to take in the beauty of the Mediterranean and rich cultural history of a country they had never visited. After a summer filled with new experiences, the family made the bold decision to move to Libya.
Six months after their settlement, the Arab Spring protests erupted and the country was in absolute turmoil. The Hadids, who lived through it all, had an extraordinary story to tell. I have worked on a personal project aimed at creating a historical recollection of the Libyan Civil War through the exploration of direct experience and remembrance from the Hadid family. Through extensive historical research, personal interviews, and family consultation, I have attempted to piece together a thorough multimedia account of the conflict. After traveling to England, where they now live, to interview them, I created an interactive, comprehensive story that gives the audience a new personal global perspective as well as a firsthand contextualization of the direct historical, cultural, and emotional effects of the Arab Spring as a whole.
This coming winter break, I will return to England to finish the project and expand upon the Hadids’ story with the help of a grant from my university that is fully funding this research.
Lillie Reder, College of the Holy Cross
For two winter breaks I returned to campus a week before the start of second semester to attend my college’s annual Non-Profit Careers Conference. Participants spent the week diving into the logistics of running, maintaining, and expanding nonprofit organizations by sitting in on lectures given by our faculty and visiting guests and engaging directly with local nonprofits here in Worcester, Mass.
Performing internationally … was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.
My fellow participants and I were grouped together and paired with nonprofits in town that faced challenges. One year my group worked with the head of a very small nonprofit dedicated to ridding Worcester trees of the invasive Asian longhorned beetle. The organization needed help with marketing, and so we worked on our plans every day and then presented PowerPoint slides of our ideas at the end of the week. Throughout the week we also met with people in the community who worked in the nonprofit sector.
Although it was a tiring way to spend the last week of winter break, I learned a lot from the marketing work and lectures and formed relationships with people I otherwise never would have met. I also came away with a better understanding of the passion and determination behind running a small nonprofit.
Benjamin Schmeusser, University of Dayton
During my past two winter intersessions, I have volunteered on medical and public-health brigades to rural, underserved communities in Nicaragua through my university’s Global Brigades chapter. As president of our chapter this year, I will be going again this winter, along with 60 students.
Our trip begins with three days focused on providing underserved communities access to medical and dental care. Student volunteers triage patients, hold educational chats, and shadow American and Nicaraguan physicians. Over the next two days, we help build sanitation stations and concrete floors to lessen the prevalence of preventable diseases. Finally, our group contributes to long-term water projects by digging ditches and laying pipe that will bring clean water to rural communities.
I have benefited greatly from the brigades. Aside from being pushed out of my comfort zone and learning about another culture and health-care system, I have gained valuable, hands-on experience that will assist me as a medical student next fall. I have developed a passion for serving underserved populations and understanding health disparities and their root causes. I hope to use my experiences and developed skills in my future career as a medical practitioner.
Katherine Sommi, Sewanee: the University of the South
At the end of my 2016 winter break, I participated in my university’s Beyond the Gates program, which is designed to prepare students for life after college. I learned about the job-application process, what it looks like, and how to best prepare to apply for internships and beyond. As part of the program I learned how to dress appropriately for a professional environment and was able to network with alumni, solidify my résumé, and participate in mock interviews.
I would not have gotten my summer internship if I had not spent my time getting a head start on the application and interview process. When the time came to apply for internships, write cover letters, and participate in interviews, I was ready.
Not only was I aware of the deadlines and properly prepared with the right documents, I was confident. I did not get disappointed when I was rejected on my first four internship applications. Eventually, I got the internship I most wanted because I learned how to reach for it.
Joe Wilder, Radford University
In the history of Southwest Virginia, one group that often fails to receive recognition is African-Americans. Many people believe that the out-migration of African-Americans after the Civil War left all of Southwest Virginia and other parts of Appalachia whitewashed. This winter, I will be researching the long-established African-American community in Wise County, Va.
Earlier this year, the Norton, Va., office of Appalachian Voices asked my university’s Appalachian-studies department if any students would be interested in taking on an oral-history research project. Two largely abandoned African-Americans cemeteries were identified in the City of Norton, and as the capstone to my graduate certificate in Appalachian studies I will be spending time in Norton interviewing some of the few people still alive in the community who have ties to the sites, and writing about their experiences. The eventual goals of the project include getting the cemeteries designated as historical sites, restoring them, and indicating them with historical markers.
I initially visited the cemeteries in July, and though many of the headstones were faded with time, I was able to identify some that date back into the 1800s. I see this project as an opportunity to uncover more about the deep roots of the African-American community in Southwest Virginia.
