The Pit buzzed with quiet excitement of students eagerly discussing fall break plans — one girl twirled her light-brown hair while talking about relaxing at home with her dog. Another brightly expressed how she could not wait to see her mom.

With fall break just around the corner, many students look toward the promise of a few days respite from classes, deadlines and midterms.

However, amid the planning, some UNC students have opted not to take a traditional break.

Every fall and spring, the Carolina Center for Public Service offers alternative breaks in which students collaborate with community service partners and engage in both service and advocacy work.

One of the programs within the center that helps facilitate these trips is student-led APPLES Service-Learning, which offers opportunities for undergraduate students and uses community service as a way of teaching about civic engagement.

Sophomore Tyler Eaton, an APPLES student leader, went on an alternative fall break trip to Asheville in 2016. He said APPLES was a good introduction to different service opportunities.

Eaton participated in a number of different service-based activities in Asheville, such as volunteering at a food bank to combat food insecurity and working with students at a local elementary school. He said the trip had a big impact on him.

“It’s so rewarding in the sense that I get a lot of joy out of being able to serve different communities,” he said. “It’s a really humbling experience, and it’s just really important to know the issues that different communities face and various ways of addressing those.”

In 2015 alone, APPLES engaged 183 students in service through alternative fall and spring breaks and partnered with nearly 100 community organizations across North Carolina, the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic, according to a report from the Carolina Center for Public Service.

Through these service-based trips, students gain insight into working professionally with nonprofit and service organizations.

UNC also offers alternative fall breaks through different programs, such as Honors Carolina. They hosted an alternative fall break trip to Washington, D.C., in 2016 to immerse students in a professional policy-making environment.

Networking with UNC graduates and working with people on Capitol Hill was a great benefit of the trip, said Gabby Hubert, sophomore.

“There were so many different aspects of the policy-political process,” Hubert said. “So I really got a sense of like, ‘Okay, maybe I’m really not interested in working in a leftist capacity, but maybe I am more interested in the nonprofit sector.’”

Many students decide to go on alternative breaks based on personal and professional opportunities. Eaton said he would definitely recommend one of these trips to any student considering it.

“You gain a great knowledge and an incredible experience,” he said. “It was really awesome to be surrounded by people that have such a passion for service and just a passion for putting others before them.”

@KarenPStahl