After an applicant pool that was “smaller than it has been in the last few years,” according to Donna Hughes, director of the Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice (CS3), the application deadline for spring break service trips was extended by two days.

The service trips offered this year span from Detroit to Georgia, with options in states such as West Virginia, South Carolina and in between, according to the CS3 website. According to Service Trip Coordinator Lea Zikmund ’18, the deadline was extended from Wednesday, Jan. 31 to Friday, Feb. 2, due to the low number of applications the office had received.

“We extended the application deadline in hopes that we could receive more applications and have a more competitive applicant group to pull from. Service trips are such a cool thing and we really wanted the best of the best.” She also adds, “We normally get more applicants but we also were trying to fill more trips than we usually do so the numbers are hard to judge.”

Zikmund adds that there were 44 applicants this year. “It seems that a lot of people have been interested in going to Detroit this year,” she says. “It is a popular trip because we do it every year and students always seem to come back with new insight and perspective. I think the sustainable nature of the trip allows for a little more hype.”

While this year’s spring service trip applicants are fewer in number than they have been in past years, spring break trips are not usually the most sought-after programs.

“Winter break is always the most competitive,” says Hughes. This year’s winter service went to Vientiane, Laos. She also explains, “Most people who want to go on spring break service trips have the opportunity because there are so many of them.”

For the spring trips, “We allowed for 11 spots per each of our five trips,” Zikmund explains, “but due to low applicant numbers we were only able to put about seven to eight students on each trip. We still feel we will have successful trips and the students will enjoy the journey no matter what!”

While there were fewer applicants than the office had originally anticipated, Zikmund states that most applicants will be able to go on their preferred trips.

“None of the service trips are more competitive than others. Due to low numbers, we really did not feel a sense of competition and most applicants were able to go where they wanted to go,” she explains.

Along with dealing with the number of people participating, service trip leaders also have to evaluate each candidate based on several criteria.

“It’s important to have diverse teams, in every sense of the word,” says Zikmund. “We look for people from different racial and cultural backgrounds, different genders (although service trips are habitually dominated by women), different majors, etcetera. We like for teams to be able to learn the most from each other in every way possible.”

To learn more about service trips email [email protected].