Stetson University student Alyssa Soto has heard her friends at other colleges talk about going to the Spring Break party spots. But she and her friends at Stetson will be too busy helping flood victims in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Soto will join about 35 Stetson students who leave Sunday morning, March 5, for a week in Baton Rouge, where last summer’s flooding caused widespread damage. The students volunteered through Stetson’s Baptist Collegiate Fellowship for the Spring Break Mission Trip and will stay at a Baptist church there while painting and making other home repairs for people who suffered damage.

“I have friends from other schools who are going to Daytona and Panama City Beach,” said Soto, a junior from Belleview, who’s majoring in marine biology. “I’ve not heard them talk about going on mission trips. They go to the parties and stuff. But the people I hang out with here at Stetson, it seems like it (the mission trip) is getting more and more popular each year.”

Stetson students will be on spring break from March 6 – March 10, with classes resuming Monday, March 13. Stetson Dining, the duPont-Ball Library and Hollis Center have posted reduced hours for the week.

Savannah-Jane Griffin, Director of Stetson’s Community Engagement and Inclusive Excellence, said Stetson students increasingly are looking for ways to help communities in need on their breaks.

This year, the center is coordinating three Alternative Spring Break trips, which will be led by students. One group will travel to the Dominican Republic and partner with Blue Missions to help community members install a water sanitation project. Another group will help rebuild homes in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina through a partnership with Project Homecoming. And another group will travel to Charleston, South Carolina, to help Meals on Wheels take meals to low-income and home-bound seniors.

“As our Alternative Spring Break program has grown through the dedicated work of our student leaders, we’ve seen an increase in the number of applicants who seek to affect community change during their time on spring break,” Griffin said. “The combination of exploring new places and giving back to those communities is becoming increasingly attractive to the entire Stetson community.”

Seated at a table outside the Carlton Union Building on Tuesday, students Soto and Brooke Fairgrieve were signing up students for the mission trip to Baton Rouge with only days to go before spring break.

Fairgrieve said all of her friends are going on the trip, which costs $50 for the week, if a student sends out fundraising letters, or $100, if they don’t. That money covers the cost of transportation, most meals, accommodations and a trip T-shirt.

“It’s team-building, as well, because we’re all hanging out. We’re on a site together. We’re building people relationships with each other, as well as with the people we’re helping, so it’s just a really good experience,” said Fairgrieve, a junior from Orange City majoring in psychology.

Sophomore Ryan Burke went on the mission trip last year to Greenville, South Carolina, where he painted and helped with other home repairs after a storm damaged the area.

“It was a lot of fun last year,” said Burke, a finance and economics major from the Cayman Islands. “Hang out with some friends and do something good.”

During spring break, Stetson Dining, the duPont-Ball Library and the Hollis Center will change their hours:

• Stetson Dining meal plans will end on Friday, March 3, at 2 p.m. and resume at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. The Commons dining hall will open Saturday, March 4, through Saturday, March 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day, offering brunch to students on residential meal plans, courtesy of the university and Dining Services. The Coffee Shop, Johnny Rockets and Einstein Bros. Bagels will be closed March 4 through March 11.

• The Hollis Center will close Friday, March 3, at 6 p.m. From March 4 – March 12, the gym will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. Weekend hours will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• The duPont-Ball Library will be closed Saturday and Sunday, March 4 – March 5. Hours during the week, March 6 – March 10, will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library will be closed Saturday, March 11, and will resume regular hours on Sunday, March 12.