The Break That Gives Back
Wesleyan students opt for volunteerism instead of vacation during the annual spring holiday
By Leona Baker | March 20, 2011
On a crisp spring morning, a small group of Virginia Wesleyan College students dressed in sweats and gardening gloves gather in front of Larchmont Elementary School in Norfolk. They’ve been divided into three teams: Team Rocks, Team Mulch and Team Pepperbush.
The students are here during their spring break, along with representatives of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, to put the finishing touches on a “rain garden”— a cluster of native plants designed for both form and function. Rain gardens are strategically placed in areas where water runoff is problem. Unlike impervious surfaces such as buildings, parking lots and roads, these gardens absorb water and reduce runoff that causes erosion and eventually carries pollutants like pesticides and fertilizers into our waterways. The spot the VWC team has chosen at Larchmont Elementary is just outside the school’s front entrance, next to a tall downspout.
“Some of the students and teachers here refer to this area as ‘Lake Larchmont’” says the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Chris Moore of what was once a soggy mess whenever it rained.
The team has created a berm (an earthen embankment to help direct the water) and planted the pepperbush along with black-eyed Susans, witch-hazel, fothergilla, dwarf yaupon hollies and several other species. They finish off the small, organically shaped garden with a few wheelbarrows full of mulch and a perimeter of rocks.
The project is one of several undertaken this year by a group of six VWC students (as well as one VWC alumnus) as part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Alternative Spring Break" program. The students also bagged oyster shells in support of a reef restoration effort in Gloucester County. An ongoing partnership between the Foundation and the College has given students like these an altruistic spring break option. Instead of kicking back at the beach or becoming one with Mom and Dad’s sofa, they opt for giving back.
“I’d just be at home anyway, so this was a good alternative,” says Wesleyan sophomore Katie Bennett. "It’s something different to do.”
For junior earth sciences major Melinda Hopper, it’s become something of a habit.
“I’ve done alternative spring breaks through high school and into college,” Hopper explains. “I loved it last year, so I came back. And I love the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. They are such a great organization.”
Hopper and her fellow Marlin volunteers were recently featured in a story in the Virginian-Pilot and on WVEC Channel 13.
In addition to the partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, this year nine VWC students traveled to Nicaragua along with the College’s chaplain, Greg West, for a “spring break with a purpose” trip to provide assistance to women and children as part of a church ministry there.