Kalysha Clark

My university offers this awesome service-learning experience known as Alternative Spring Break or ASB. Here's what the website says:

"Students engage in direct service to a community while being immersed in the culture and customs of the community. Members participate in a variety of cultural, educational, recreational and reflective activities to enhance their service experience."

I chose to apply for the Raleigh ASB trip. Most of the trips are across the country or international; my university is actually located in Raleigh so I wouldn't even be going anywhere. I did this for two reasons.

1. Each trip is dedicated to a different issue: Civil Rights, HIV/Aids, LGBT Community. Raleigh is based on Hunger and Homelessness, which is something I'm really passionate about and one day hope to create a nonprofit to address these issues and come up with influential solutions for them.

2. It's more affordable. Because we'll be local, the cost of the trip is significantly less than the others and that's a big deal for me because I'm trying to save money for an apartment and tuition for my last semester of school.

This year is the first ASB Raleigh trip, so it's still in the planning stages. We are going to be volunteering, learning more about hunger and homelessness in our community, exploring new areas of Raleigh and creating a unique project that can summarize our findings to our local university community so other students can be aware. We will probably be staying at a church downtown and then spending some days at a local park in a lodge. The plan is to volunteer with the Salvation Army and Raleigh Rescue Mission as well as two or three organizations.

I'm really excited. The trip will cost $150-200. I am applying for a couple scholarships (one of which would pay for the whole trip) and also asking for sponsors from local businesses from my hometown. Hopefully that will help!

I'll keep you guys updated!

Once school gets started and the classwork and homework and assignments start piling up, it can get easy to become overwhelmed. Work, class, clubs and everything else combined starts pulling at you and then you don't know which was is up.

That is why organization is key. I live by my desk calendar and planner and it makes it really easy for me to keep track of when things are due, when I have exams, when there are club meetings and all of that jazz. Below are some of my tips on how to stay organized.

1. Invest in a planner.
You will not regret this. Most of the time, you don't even have to buy one because your school likely gives them out. My university gave me two different one for free after I already had one for myself. Keep an eye out for your school to hand them out.

When using your planner, it's important to mark down dates ahead of time and to use different colors to indicate different things.

I also recommend making a "To Do" list on a sticky note for the week (or day) and keeping it in your planner to cross off as you go.