LITTLE ROCK — Many college students spend spring break lounging at home or partying on the beach, but about 550 students from across the county came to Little Rock this week for an “alternative spring break” instead.
The 2010 IMPACT National Student Conference on Service, Advocacy and Social Action ended Sunday at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock.
The conference, hosted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the UA Clinton School of Public Service, bills itself as the largestannual gathering of college students active in community service and civic engagement.
Daily workshops, which began Friday, ranged from practical advice such as how to launch a grass-roots organization to more topical sessions such as how to combine hip-hop with service projects.
There were also service opportunities tied into the conference, including projects with Habitat for Humanity, Arkansas Rice Depot, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Our House Shelter.
Students came to IMPACT from all across the country, including New York, Oregon,Florida and even Hawaii.
Heather Cronk, a member of the IMPACT advisory committee, said one of the conference’s main functions is to connect service-minded students from different colleges annually so they can “cross-pollinate.”
“Students who are hardcore into community service are in the same room with students who are chaining themselves to fences in activism strategies,” Cronk said. “It’s sort of like collaboration on speed.”
Georgia Southern University sophomore Lauren Jackson and 15 other students arrived in town Tuesday towork on service projects in advance of the weekend conference.
The work included painting a Little Rock home through Habitat for Humanity, and feeding and playing with children at Our House Shelter.
Jackson said she’d much rather be in Little Rock than Mexico during spring break.
“You are doing something meaningful with your time - and important. You’re actually helping people. There’s a certain satisfaction that comes from that,” she said.
“Plus the people you meet here are awesome. It’s great to be in this group environment knowing you are all working toward the goal ofhelping others.”
A number of the students came with groups organized through their universities, including a 15-student contingent from the University of Chicago.
Walter Goode Jr., associate dean of students and director of the University Community Service Center, saidthe school asked each student to pay $50 but picked up the remaining tab for travel and expenses.
The total bill will come to about $11,000, he said.
“We know these are students who will in fact become leaders at the university, who will become alumni who have that affinity with campus and community service,” Goode said. “We think it’s certainly an investment that will benefit the university and those individual students tremendously.”
Abby Kiesa, a member of the IMPACT advisory committee, said the conference is popular with professionals as well as students.
There’s a kind of “energy” at IMPACT, Kiesa said, that professionals need in particular to recharge their batteries during a national recession that’s proved hard on service organizations.
“This is anti-isolation work, to show you that you’re not alone,” Kiesa said. “There are resources out there, there are other people ... who are doing similar work who you can learn from and stay in touch with, and who can help you have a stronger impact in the community.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/22/2010