Students involved in RLC-organized trips will spend this spring break avoiding the stereotypical drunken mayhem.

“Like any spring break trip through the Religious Life Council, the focus is to have fun and to do service, engage in fellowship and get a greater understanding of spirituality,” RLC President Jon Bailey said.

Students will be involved in trips to Arkansas, Chicago, North Carolina and Mexico.

“For the four RLC-sponsored trips, there are around 30 people going total,” Student Chaplain Tiffany Rink said.

All four trips will foster spiritual growth for students in different ways. Those attending the Mexico or Arkansas trips will engage in hands-on charity experience.

The Arkansas trip was organized in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity, while the Mexico trip was planned through Nuevo Progresso.

“On the Mexico trip, students will spend three to four days building a house for a family in a poverty stricken area along the border,” Rink said. “The Habitat [for Humanity] trip will be doing things such as working on a new build, deconstructing a fort to use the lumber and working at a restore.”

The trip to North Carolina is less a labor of love than an opportunity for religion majors to see what may be in their academic future.

“Well, the purpose of the trip is to visit Duke Divinity, but part of that is learning what Duke Divinity offers as a seminary,” Bailey said. “This trip helps me grow as a Christian because it gives me an outlet to check out a theological seminary.”

Senior Mara LeHew sees the trip to North Carolina as a logical step in her future career.

“I am looking at going into the ministry once I graduate and am planning on attending seminary after graduation from Simpson,” LeHew said. “It will also help to prepare me for a future job in the church, which I look forward to as another way to be in fellowship with other Christians and to help others grow in their faith, which in turn helps me to grow in my Christian faith.”

Bailey said the trip to North Carolina is ideal for pre-seminary students.

“As it turned out, only pre-seminary students signed up, so the agenda is geared towards them,” Bailey said. “The goals of a theological seminary are to help students explore questions in theology.”

In addition to service, students going on the RLC spring break trips will also have a little fun, according to Rink.

“There will be a day spent at South Padre Island,” Rink said concerning the RLC trip to Mexico.

Bailey said there would be downtime for students to explore the area around Duke Divinity Seminary.

“We are also planning to see the sights and sounds to get a feel for the area,” Bailey said.

The overall goal is to focus on students’ spiritual growth during a brief time when academics are absent from their lives.

“Some of the things that I would hope students get out of the trips is a time to get away and meet new people, a chance to grow spiritually and be able to serve others and have a positive impact in the community they are working in,” Rink said.