Student Org Profile: MAlt

MAlt is Middlebury’s alternative break program. Each year, students design and plan six trips during February Break (national and international destinations) and one Vermont-based trip during Fall and Spring Breaks. The goal of the trips is to engage Middlebury students with communities across the nation and the globe in order to share an experience, provide service where service is needed, and learn about the systems that shape community realities around the world.

My favorite thing about MAlt is that it allows students to immerse themselves in the complexities of an issue or theme that they are passionate about, engaging with the issue on a deeper level than the classroom can provide. As a former trip leader and participant and current board member, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to experience the sense of authenticity and accomplishment that comes with engaging in strong direct service, the satisfaction of successfully planning the logistics and itinerary of a trip I was passionate about leading, and now to support new leaders in the development of their trips. I think an invaluable aspect of MAlt is the ability students have to connect with communities across the country (and beyond) and find the similarities between our different cultures, identifying the ways in which we are privileged as Middlebury students and the ways in which the communities we serve are also privileged.

-Hayley Howard ‘17

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