Spring Breakers Take Action : Spotlight on Simmons : Simmons College

While many college students spend spring break relaxing, many Simmons students spent the time off to accomplish some extraordinary feats.

This year, Simmons College undergraduates and graduate students participated in three Alternative Spring Break projects during a week of March, coordinated by the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service. The Simmons soccer team also took the week to travel to Italy, where team members trained and competed with a professional Italian women's soccer team.

Habitat for Humanity Alternative Spring Break

A team of 16 Simmons College volunteers traveled to Harrisburg, Penn., to work on the college's annual Habitat for Humanity Alternative Spring Break program. This is Simmons's sixth year partnering with Habitat. The team included 14 students, one staff member and one college trustee, all of whom helped renovate the new headquarters building for Habitat for Humanity, demolish the walls and floors, and empty out the building. The group began organizing the trip in October, and spent the months leading up to spring break organizing fundraisers and discussing relevant community issues.

Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Farragut Elementary Library Alternative Spring Break

Simmons Library School of Information Science students have participated in an alternative spring break at the Farragut Elementary School Library in Mission Hill for the past four years. This year, 19 students, and three staff members helped organize and process the books, read to children in the classroom and worked on skills for the children.

"I am thankful that Simmons's faculty, staff and students are willing to give their time - a very precious commodity - in order to help make the Farragut School Library a better place," said Jennifer Kelley Reed, librarian at the Farragut Library. "Their presence sends a message to all the students that this library has value, and that people are willing to invest their time to make it a better place."

College of the Fenway Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break

The second annual Colleges of the Fenway Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break gave undergraduates a chance to learn about, connect with, and take action in the local community. This year's program featured two student volunteers from Simmons, seniors Darcel Hunt and Grace McDonald. Students from Emmanuel, MassArt, Mass College of Pharmacy, and Wentworth also volunteered. The project's focus on post-secondary opportunities for Boston-area youth enabled the group to help school students explore professional and educational possibilities during and after high school.

Activities combined daily visits to the Roxbury Youth Program and to ACCESS — an agency that provides Boston-area youth with the information and financial resources necessary to attain higher education. The volunteers tutored and created workshops around college awareness. They also explored the city, met with community leaders and government officials, attended trainings, and reflected on their experiences.

"What I liked most about the whole experience was the everyone in the group came from different backgrounds," said Hunt. "This really helped everyone to be supportive of each other when intense issues and themes were explored and discussed."

Simmons Soccer Team travels to Italy

The Simmons soccer team traveled to the Umbria region of Italy, where they trained and competed with a professional Italian women's soccer team. The weeklong trip was highlighted by a cross-cultural dinner with the team's opponents. Soccer coach Erica Mastrogiacomo said the language barrier was a definite challenge.

"The student athletes really went out of their comfort zone and attempted to connect with this foreign team," she said. "But over the course of a meal, complete strangers and opponents became bonded through sport and conversation."

The Simmons team took some time away from athletics by visiting the Vatican and the historic city of Rome. The Mayor of Norcia also welcomed the squad at the Norcia City Hall, and commended their dedication to the sport while challenging them to continue to serve as role models in leadership for young women.

"Traveling to Italy with the Simmons soccer team was the opportunity of a lifetime for me," said Brooke MacKenzie, a first-year student. "Spending time in a foreign country — overcoming language barriers, adapting to the culture, and forming new bonds with teammates — was just an unbelievable experience."