Spring Break in college is the time to travel and party before classes start again. It’s depicted through movies, books, friends’ Instagrams, and even stories from your parents. We grow up thinking that spring break is the time for all of us to go somewhere warm and get drunk on a beach. That’s not how most college kids spend their break today. Most of us go home and sleep all day. Very few people go and travel because we’re all broke. However, there is a chunk of students that volunteer during their spring break.

1. Travel

Depending on where you volunteer you can travel to a different state or country and it is a lot cheaper than going on your own.

2. Meet new people

You’ll work with people from the location you choose to volunteer. They are most likely really nice and interesting people. Sometimes you can meet people from your school that you never knew beforehand too.

3. Accomplish something

You’ll see the difference that was made. Whether you’re teaching kids sports or building homes. You’ll notice how much your hard work has done. You may start from a cement foundation and see an entire house frame built in the one week you were there.

4. Make a difference

You’ll leave break knowing you made a difference. You’ll know that in that small town of Illinois you helped build a home for a family that will help them prosper. You’ll know that the playground you made in the Dominican Republic will be used every day by children to make them happy and healthy.

5. Something new to enjoy

You may realize that you have a love of construction or a love for teaching. The head construction worker on my trio graduated college as a Psychology major and there he was getting paid to teach volunteers how to build houses.

6. Meet people with similar interests

If you volunteer with a group, you’ll meet people that enjoy helping others. People like you that chose to spend their break working rather than binge watching Netflix. These people may be first timers or veterans but everyone is experiencing something new because every experience is new. You’re helping people with a different story than the last maybe people that have a similar story to you.

7. Stress reliever

It’s a distraction from deadlines and homework. While you’re away you’re only focusing on what you’re doing. You’re living in the present and it’s such a relieve to be a way from deadlines and people that are focused on what grades you have in your classes at the moment.

8. Learn something new

You’ll learn how to use a nail gun or communication skills. You may even learn that Illinois likes to cut their circle pizzas into square slices.

9. The reward

Your reward is not going to be going back and bragging about how you’re a good person. Your reward is knowing that you changed someone’s life for the better. It’s knowing that you helped someone improve their life and that’s more than enough reward for anyone. Even if you’ll never meet the people you helped you’ll know that you were a part of it. You’ll know that you were one of many guardian angels that impacted a person.