Spring break: The two long- awaited words beckon thousands of college kids to Florida beaches and Cancun nightclubs.
But a growing number of stu dents are skipping the sun and nightlife, swapping beer bottles for tool belts to spend their hiatus helping others.
In the past 15 years, these alternative spring breaks -- trips connecting students with community groups and service projects in out- of-the-way towns -- have grown steadily, said Samantha Giaco bozzi, programs director for Break Away, a nonprofit organization that trains trip leaders.
This month, an estimated 36,000 students from 300 schools are giving up a lazy, hazy week on the beach to clean up debris, paint houses in the Gulf and volunteer in towns around the world. Hurri canes Katrina and Rita created a new urgency among students to help out.
"So many young people were sitting in school watching the horrible devastation and wondering what they could do about it," said United Way spokeswoman Sheila Consaul. "Because they're students ... they can't just write checks and feel like they did something. In order to contribute, they have to do it with their physical labor."
Six months after the hurricanes hit, more than 31,000 students took alternative spring breaks, said Gia cobozzi. The next year, when stu dents had more time to plan and more ways to help, the number jumped 16 percent.
This month, Drew University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, The College of New Jersey, Rutgers University, Princeton University and other schools sent students to the Gulf: to New Orleans, Kenner and Slidell in Louisiana and Meridian in Mississippi. Many students organized their trips, renting vans, finding churches to sleep and cook meals in and fundraising.
The United Way of America also arranged Gulf trips. This month, 300 students, including seven from New Jersey schools, cleaned up Camp Wi-Ta-Wentin and rebuilt homes in Lake Charles, La.
"It's funny, you hear a lot of 'Why didn't you go to Cancun?'" said Meredith Osterman, co-president of Drew University's Habitat for Humanity chapter, which in ad dition to this month's work in Mississippi, builds homes in Johns Island, S.C., each January. "It's not like giving up your spring break or anything. I go because it makes a difference for people."
The percentage of college stu dents volunteering grew from 27 percent in 2001 to 30.2 percent last year, according to a federal study. That beats the adults volunteer rate of 28.8 percent.
"September 11 and the Iraq War and everything political that's come up in between, I think, has been very influential in sparking an awareness," said Mary Michalopou los, 21, a College of New Jersey junior from Neptune who gutted homes and filmed a documentary in New Orleans.
Current college students gushed about their weeks of work as "rewarding" and "memorable" and "amazing," speckled with mo ments of revelation.
Sleeping in a dorm-style bunk in a converted middle school, Shaunna Rubin, 20, a Fairleigh Dickinson University sophomore, spent her days at Camp Wi-Ta- Wentin clearing trees and knocking down walls and her evenings with other students from around the country on the United Way spring break.
Although alcohol was forbidden, there were a few typical spring break romances. But mostly stu dents spent their evenings brows ing Wal-Mart, eating at the local Sonic drive-in, watching movies, jumping on a trampoline and going bowling, she said.
"Everyone was on that adrena line," said Rubin, of Montville. "We had our own fun."
That's part of the point, said Carey Hoover, the program coordinator at Princeton University's Stu dent Volunteers Council, which sent 12 students to Slidell, La.
"It not only is a great way to get out, see a different part of the country," Hoover said. "I think stu dents learn about themselves. They build confidence, they build leader ship skills. They bond with each other."
Kate Rennles, a 21-year-old junior at the College of Saint Elizabeth, bonded with her group in Gallup, N.M., where they built homes for Navajos and learned about their culture.
She showed off photographs of the dozen young women, getting goofy in front of Window Rock, an Arizona rock formation, and posing in front of a traditional Indian hogan, a wooden home. The stu dents cooked tacos, read poetry with high school students and learned about the 56 percent unemployment rate on the Navajo reservation.
"If you can do something to help alleviate pain, why not step up and get rid of it?" said Rennles, of Brooklawn in Camden County.
Saint Elizabeth, as well as The College of New Jersey, integrate service into their curriculum, officials said. Some schools, such as Rutgers, pay for students to take alternative spring breaks.
Twenty-nine students from Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Livingston took a train to Kenner, La., to remove furnishings from ravaged, run-down homes. The houses looked as if no one had stepped foot in them since August 2005, said Kazim Mirza, a 21-year-old senior from Montclair.
In New Orleans, too, the damage is still startling, said Alexander Macklin, a 20-year-old College of New Jersey junior from Manalapan, who volunteered there on last year's spring break. He plans to re turn in May with 50 volunteers.
"We really felt like it was an ob ligation for us to go back, help these people out," Macklin said. "In the coming years, we're going to be the ones running the country. This is going to be our future. And it's up to us to make changes."
