For Andrina Jean and Élise Garner, this year’s spring break is something of a full circle moment.

Now the co-executive student directors of Howard University Alternative Spring Break (HUASB), both have committed their annual March vacations to the University’s renowned service program since arriving at the Mecca three years ago, eschewing a more conventional retreat from college life for an experience objectively much less glamorous.

Neither seem to mind, considering the community and purpose they have found in the project.

“Every time I get into a new space or a new environment, I always get involved in things that are related to service or to something in my religion,” said Garner, an honors economics major and business administration minor from Trinidad and Tobago. “Like, how [HUASB] is coordinated under the Office of the Dean of the Chapel – that’s not something I looked for, but it ended up finding me.”

“It’s just a week of our time,” added Jean, a speech pathology major from Bluffton, S.C. “I don’t think I was sacrificing that much, and I think the impact that we’re making is so much bigger than ourselves. And it impacts us just as much as we’re impacting those communities.”

Jean and Garner are responsible for leading the second-largest cohort in HUASB’s 31-year history; this year, over 1,300 students will travel to 22 cities nationwide. Founded in 1994, HUASB serves communities in need with the goal of developing the next generation of servant leaders. Most crucially, the program is offered at no cost to student participants, empowering as many participants as interested to execute meaningful service projects.

This year’s theme, “Nurturing our Community: Planting Seeds of Hope for the Future,” commemorates HUASB’s three-plus decades of service in communities throughout the globe. Participants will collaborate with local organizations addressing violence prevention, housing stability, disaster relief, restorative justice, food stability, holistic wellness, environmental justice, youth empowerment, community development, and education.

I think the impact that we’re making is so much bigger than ourselves. And it impacts us just as much as we’re impacting those communities.”

As devout program veterans, the two possess an intimate knowledge of what has made HUASB so successful: Jean previously participated in St. Louis and Flint, Mich., while Garner has served in New Orleans and Charlotte, each holding a variety of authority positions along the way. That familiarity with HUASB made them prime candidates for executive directorship, even if they did not recognize it at the outset.

“It was never a thought in my mind to pursue an [executive] position,” Garner acknowledged. “They saw that I could fit into certain places, and I was really willing to do whatever because I really enjoyed the program.”

“I appreciate that the past [executive student directors] saw the leadership in me, because my freshman year, if you told me this is where I would be, I would’ve thought you were crazy,” Jean laughed. “I really am grateful.”

To maximize this year’s impact, the duo implemented a series of measures designed to ensure participants are sufficiently prepared for their service locations. Garner emphasized the program’s new director of training position, created to administer and unite their departments in a more “holistic” and “integral” manner.

“We wanted to build an environment where people felt valued and appreciated, because that’s where you get the best work,” Jean said. “From the moment we started talking, we said that’s something we’re going to do and we’re not going to fault on that. I think we did a pretty good job.”

Garner also noted that “capturing the story” of HUASB has been among their top priorities this year, as they believe it helps to further explain the program while also humanizing the individuals at the helm. “Giving people insight into the process, and them seeing just how complex it is, I think that’s part of the job we did this year,” she said. “Just people seeing more of what [HUASB] is and understanding it more, and it reaching wider audiences.”

Garner is a team leader for the unit heading to Memphis, and Jean is additionally serving as site coordinator for Charleston, N.C., located roughly 90 minutes from her hometown. While both roles still require their active leadership, they view their respective trips as key opportunities to self-evaluate the tutelage they provided to this year’s volunteers.

“I get to see our work in fruition in terms of how we’ve prepped these people to be leaders on these trips,” Garner said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to – taking that step back finally and seeing other people lead.”

“I’m excited to see how everyone else is and see their hard work paid off,” added Jean. “All the late nights and early mornings that we’ve put into this come to life.”

As the pair reflected on their tenure in anticipation of what will soon be their final academic year at Howard, Jean and Garner underscored the importance of honoring HUASB’s celebrated traditions while embracing opportunities for growth and innovation. Jean pointed to the project’s very first service mission as evidence of how it can be emboldened by its past while also seeking inspiration for its future.

“This year, we’re going to a few new sites, but the first HUASB site was disaster relief,” Jean noted of the foundational group of 12 students who traveled to Lumberton, N.C. in 1994. “We took that into consideration, and we’re going to two sites that were affected by the recent hurricane. Honoring that legacy but also finding new relationships to build and new sites and communities that we could forge – that’s special.”

“Knowing that we can stay true to the legacy that we have but having the capacity to do more and expand,” Jean concluded. “That is something we wanted our legacy to be, for sure.”