(ThyBlackMan.com) Most college students are planning to waste time and money over spring break, partying hard, drinking till they vomit, and doing other things that might get them into trouble. Howard University is encouraging its students to engage in a more enlightened use of its time over spring break, by helping the students to raise money for a trip to support the people of Haiti.
WHUR, the Howard University radio station and one of the leading stations in the DC area, is helping the students raise the $150,000 that they will need 
in order to make the trip. The station is holding a radiothon to raise money on Sunday, March 6th from 6 am until 6 pm. In addition to going to Haiti, the students plan to go to other cities across the United States in order to provide “critical services to those in need.” The students plan to travel to Haiti, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Atlanta, in addition to providing support in the Washington DC area.
The initiative stems from Howard University’s innovative Alternative Spring Break program, where students are encouraged to skip the mindless spring breaks of the past and do something good for their community. The current trip will cover 500 students, including undergraduate, graduate and law students. They will leave on Saturday March 12th and return on Saturday, March 19th. Those who wish to donate can do so by going to http://www.howard.edu/helpinghands .
I want to commend the faculty and administrators at Howard University for what they’ve done with these kids. I’ve been considering allowing one of my own children to attend the university, and this program has moved the school up in our ranking. I hope that other universities pursue similar models, for giving our students other uses for their time during spring break might save some of their lives.
This semester alone, I’ve written on several cases of college students dying in alcohol-related incidents. I can assure you right now that this spring break is going to lead to more deaths, arrests, sexual assaults and other unfortunate incidents, primarily because we as adults have neglected our responsibility to teach young people about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption and reckless behavior. Spending your springs and summers wasting time, having sex with anything that moves and drinking till you pass out has, for some reason, become an accepted part of the college lifestyle. But the truth is that it doesn’t have to be this way.
This message should resonate most directly with the African American community, where our people are in the greatest and most dire need for the work being done by the students in this program. Rather than our kids spending their time “getting wasted,” and engaging in counter productive activity, we should encourage all of our young people to follow the lead of the students at Howard University.
Written By Dr. Boyce Watkins
Official website; http://boycewatkins.com/