While some students are preparing to spend spring break traveling to exotic places to relax in the sun, others are gearing up to spend the week helping less fortunate people in other parts of the country and world.

Students from Alternative Spring Break, a Penn State student organization whose members travel to volunteer with different communities and organizations, is one such group.

Alternative Spring Break President Melanie McCarthy (senior-human development and family studies) said groups ranging in size from 10 to 19 students will be traveling to Boston, Washington, D.C., New Mexico, the Everglades and New York to work on projects.

"Going on the trip is kind of scary," McCarthy said.

"You do not know these people, and you are spending the entire spring break with them."

But in McCarthy's eyes, the trips are priceless experiences.

"It is awesome to see the impact that you have on the places you go," she said. "It is awesome to know that you are doing something for other people," McCarthy added.

The groups will be volunteering at establishments varying from Boys' and Girls' clubs to soup kitchens.

For these students, next week will not be much of a vacation.

"It is more like going to work," McCarthy said.

Another group that will be lending a helping hand is the Penn State Catholic Community.

The group is sponsoring two trips this spring, Project Haiti and Mission Mexico. Project Haiti consists of 31 students, two project alumni and one faculty member, who will be traveling to Haiti to volunteer their time.

Student Rebecca Baumgartner, Project Haiti's treasurer, said the organization's main purpose is to build a relationship between Penn State and the Haitian people.

"One of our missions is to bring a better representation of Haiti to the United States," Project Haiti Vice-President Shaun Kostiuk said.

The group will be staying at the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Incarnation convent in Pandiassou and has no specific plans for the trip. Rather, the group arrives ready to assist the people with whatever they need.

"We do not like to go down with a plan," Baumgartner said.

"When we go down, we see what the they need us to do."

In addition to the projects, the group will provide food and medical supplies to the village.

They also help provide medical assistance by bringing doctors to volunteer at medical clinics.

Previous projects that the group has completed include the construction of a kitchen and reforestation work.

"It is an indescribable trip that you have to experience to get the full effect," Baumgartner said.

The group's other project, Mission Mexico, consists of a group of 13 and will be led by the Rev. David Griffin and will be traveling to Tijuana, Mexico. While in Mexico, the group plans on assisting in the renovation of a nearby church.