Hundreds of Boston University students lined up Sunday night, not for an Apple iPhone or Jonas Brothers tickets, but for the chance to volunteer.
About 300 would-be student volunteers spent the night in Metcalf Hall Sunday night in hopes of scoring their first choice Alternative Spring Break locations. Students who made it through the night then signed up for one of 32 trips at 6 a.m. Monday morning in the order they arrived, ASB trip coordinator Miriam Levine said.
‘The best way to describe why people get here when they do is the passion for the program, passion for the trip,’ Levine, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said.
‘Passion is what compels people to wait outside in the cold,’ although students have not had to wait outside for a few years, Levine, who coordinates the trip to Omaha, Neb., said.
Students began lining up as early as 6 a.m. on Sunday. CAS sophomore Victoria Nemiah said she and a friend arrived at 8:15 a.m., and they were still numbers 35 and 36 in line.
‘People really like registration,’ she said. ‘It’s like a really big exercise in bonding.’
Despite the many students competing for their first choice of ASB, everyone was friendly with each other, Nemiah said.
‘People are so nice,’ Nemiah said. ‘I don’t think any other organization could get a room with this many people who are all so nice.’
CAS sophomore Jason Lee, who said he arrived at 10 a.m. and was number 97 in line, said he hoped to get his first choice of working at a house for terminally ill children in Memphis, Tenn.
‘My roommate is one of the leaders . . . and I just figured normally at spring break I just sit around and do nothing, so this would be a better way to spend my time,’ he said.
Students can party ‘in college every weekend, so you can give up a week’ for volunteer work, Lee said.
CAS junior Abby Fitzsimmons, who said she was number 173 in line, said camping out is worth the ASB experience.
‘I got here, and there was a line from the [George Sherman Union] all the way to the BU Academy,’ Fitzsimmons said. ‘It’s fun to camp out, but I wish there was a better way to do it.’ People are just going to keep getting here earlier and earlier.’
CAS sophomore Chelsea Yim, who arrived at 7:15 a.m., said by lining up early, she hoped to be placed at an animal rescue site. ASB will help her decide if a career in veterinary medicine is right for her, she said.
‘I heard about it last year but it was too late then,’ Yim said. ‘I just really wanted to do it and live kind of far away so I wanted to be productive and help. It’ll help me decide, I think. It’ll also help me decide if I want to take all those science classes.’
Although many other students in line had ASB location preferences, CAS freshman Kathleen Grueter said she did not care where she was placed.
‘I’m okay with whatever program I get because I know whatever we’re doing, it’s going to make an impact,’ she said.
Daily Free Press staff writer Jenna Ebersole contributed reporting to this story.
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