alternative service break

Mar 19, 2025

Wrapping Up ASB in Western N.C.

In their final days of recovery work, NC State students participating in an Alternative Service Break trip to western North Carolina spent time with individuals and aid organizations that have been vital in helping the area recover from Hurricane Helene.

A group of students and other volunteers admire the view from the top of Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina.

Mar 19, 2025

Participants Reflect on Service Experience in Western N.C.

In their own words, Wolfpack volunteers describe the life-altering impacts of their spring 2025 Alternative Service Break trip to western North Carolina.

Students on the Alternative Spring Break trip prepare a meal at the community center they are staying in as they help with recover efforts in western North Carolina

Mar 12, 2025

Follow Along With Students Volunteering in Western North Carolina

NC State students and other volunteers are spending their 2025 spring break assisting in the recovery efforts of communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Banner Elk Elementary School principal Justin Carver speaks with NC State students at a community center in western North Carolina.

Mar 12, 2025

ASB Participants Hear About Helene’s Looming Crisis for Schoolkids

An Avery County elementary school principal shares his thoughts about the storm’s lingering mental health effects on Helene’s youngest survivors.

Mar 11, 2025

Restoring Hope — and a Little Color — to a Family-Owned Enterprise

Last September, Suzanne and Jared Garland watched their family-owned campground and their livelihoods be swept away by the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. With some help from community volunteers, an NC State Alternative Service Break team and some landscape architecture students, they hope to reopen their sole means of income by Memorial Day.

An overlook toward the mountains in western North Carolina

Mar 10, 2025

A Service-Oriented Spring Break in Western N.C.

PLUMTREE, N.C. — NC State graduates John and Lisa Vance had never organized a service trip for college students before, even though they laid the foundation for their 17-year marriage and family of six children during their own college days, more than two decades ago. Still, the couple — who met while preparing to go on…

ASB students on a trip to Guatemala grab their shovels and get ready to work.

Mar 6, 2024

Alternative Service Break Opens New Worlds for Past, Present, Future NC State Students

For over 20 years, NC State’s Alternative Service Break Program has provided students with opportunities to make a difference in the world and learn about different cultures.

Students hike in a mountainous area of Nicaragua

Mar 10, 2020

A Spring Break That Inspires

Each year, hundreds of NC State students fan out across the the globe for unique service and cultural exchange experiences.

Jul 20, 2017

Sharing Sustainability In Senegal

A study abroad experience in Scotland and an Alternative Service Break trip to Belize are how NC State graduate Jack Alcorn ended up in Senegal on a two-year assignment with the Peace Corps.

May 3, 2016

Sustainability Fund Gives 15 Grants for 2016

The NC State Sustainability Fund gives 15 grants totaling $161,000 for campus sustainability projects.

Jan 7, 2015

Carnegie Lauds NC State for Service

NC State is again recognized for its culture of student service and engagement. See how the university's work improves lives on campus and around the world.

Mar 12, 2013

Spring Service

NC State's commitment to service goes beyond the campus itself. Over spring break, students traveled as far as Alaska, Rome and Belize on Alternative Service Break trips.

Mar 5, 2013

Service Efforts Get Presidential Nod

NC State's high-intensity service efforts landed the university on the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Mar 8, 2011

Globally Engaged

NC State students, faculty and staff have fanned out across the world this week, taking part in a wide array of Alternative Service Break opportunities that support our university-wide mission of service to others. Follow along as our teams check in with updates from the road.

Jan 25, 2011

At Your Service

Senior engineering major Justin Boucher (right) didn't spend Spring Break 2010 toting beach chairs and downing frosty beverages. Instead, he joined a group of classmates on an Alternative Spring Break trip to Nicaragua, where he transformed cinderblocks, bags of mortar and wheelbarrows of dirt into sinks, showers and washing stations for needy local residents.