Though there remains a stereotype of college students using their spring breaks to head to a tropical locale and party like they’re on an MTV special, many Marquette students will use the time off from classes to visit family and friends, enjoy warm weather or help others.

ROTC

A group of 10 Naval ROTC students will head to Norfolk, Virginia and Washington D.C. for a Naval Orientation Trip.

In Norfolk, the group will tour the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, which is currently under the command of 1984 Marquette graduate Captain Brian “Lex” Luther.

Lieutenant Jon-Andrew Anderson, a graduate student in international affairs, helped organize the trip.

“The goal is to understand how the Navy and Marine Corps are able to carry out joint missions around the world and more about the integrated forces that make up the Navy and Marine Corps,” Anderson said. “Having a Marquette graduate as the commanding officer of a ship is a rare opportunity.”

The group will then move on to the nation’s capitol, where they will tour the Capitol building, Pentagon and view the Constitution.

CLUB SPORTS

The boys’ and girls’ ultimate Frisbee teams are driving down to Jekyll Island, Georgia, a 19-hour trip, for a four-day Ultimate Frisbee tournament involving over 30 other teams.

Patrick Mullen, junior in the College of Engineering, said the spring break tournament is the team’s favorite.

“It serves as the first opportunity for competitive play in the spring season and is a big opportunity for us to see how much we have developed and learned over winter,” Mullen said.

He said card games, music and beach bumming are among the team’s favorite things to do while not playing Frisbee.

“My goal this year is to help the first-timers have an enjoyable experience and learn a lot about the game,” Mullen said.

Rachel Treinen, a freshman in the College of Health Sciences, said she is excited to bond with the team, especially during the long drive in Marquette vans.

“We will probably sing a lot, share life stories and find weird things in gas stations to entertain ourselves,” Treinen said.

The waterski and wakeboard club is going down to Zachary, Lousiana to spend five days with the Iowa Waterski and Wakeboard Club. There are 16 members going on the trip.

The team will drive 15 hours from Chicago to their final destination. They will spend one night in New Orleans before heading down to Bennett’s Ski School in Zachary.

Alicia Santaga, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said the team will work to improve their slalom, tricks, jumps and wakeboarding for the tournaments in which the team competes.

“This trip will help our team and myself improve for our tournaments this spring,” Santaga said.

The team has made the trip for the last four years.

SERVICE

Kelly Carney, a pre-dental scholar and sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, will travel to her second home, Jamaica, for a dental mission trip. Carney has been going to Jamaica every year since she was eight with her family and teams of dentists. This time she will bring Lisa Keller and Conor Masterson, both pre-med sophomores in the College of Health Sciences, along with her.

They will travel with 16 dental students from the University of Iowa and two practicing dentists, including Carney’s father. She said they will assist the dental students, sterilize instruments and hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Carney said some patients will travel across the island to receive dental work. Her dad has been going to Jamaica for 20 years and has set up seven free dental clinics across the island.

“This is a dental mission primarily, so we are going to provide free dental work, but we are also going to spread God’s word,” Carney said. “We talk to patients about their faith lives and about their relationships with God.”

The Global Brigades group on campus will send approximately 20 students to Panama on an environmental brigade.

Cory Steinmetz, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said he is looking forward to teaching others about the environment.

“We will be working with local families to build greenhouses for sustainable, family-sized gardens,” Steinmetz said. “We will also teach them some waste management skills in an effort to educate them on the effects of pollution and to help them reduce pollution in their community.”

Steinmetz traveled to Guatemala last year on a similar trip.

“I’m hoping to build upon that experience by learning what it’s like to be a part of this Panamanian community, lend a helping hand and build new global and Marquette relationships,” Steinmetz said.

STUDY ABROAD

The international business program in the College of Business Administration will bring a group of students across the ocean to China.

Mark Hampton, a junior in the College of Business Administration, said he is excited to experience Chinese culture.

“We will do some tourist activities like visiting the Great Wall, Olympics sites and Tiananmen Square,” Hampton said.

Students will also take classes at Peking University in Beijing.

HOME

Monica Lopez and Danny Font, a freshman and a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, respectively, will go home to Puerto Rico over break.

Font said he is not looking forward to the entire day of travel but is excited to go home.

“I want to go to the beach to surf and go boating,” Font said.

Lopez said she is excited to go to the beach and eat traditional Puerto Rican food.