Alternative Break Program
Student coordinator position

The JMU Alternative Break Program currently offers student led service trips during Thanksgiving Break, Spring Break and May Session with expansion possibilities into Winter Break and in conjunction with freshman and transfer student orientations. Service locations are located in the United States and abroad. The Alternative Break Coordinator is responsible for the coordination, facilitation, logistics and ongoing development of the alternative break programs. This is a Community Service-Learning (CS-L) staff position.

Candidates for the position must be detail oriented, have good group facilitation and interpersonal skills and must have led a Community Service-Learning sponsored Alternative Break Trip at JMU.

The hourly wage position requires a commitment of 12 - 15 flexible hours in several hour/block periods per week for the 2009-2010 academic year. Monday evenings are training nights with a weekend retreat in November. In addition, you are required to attend weekly ABP staff meetings, ABP Leadership Team meetings, and CS-L full staff meetings. Some additional staff training in the spring of 2009 is required. Two positions are available for the 2009-2010 academic year.

specific duties

1. Become familiar with overall JMU Alternative Break program history and documents to gain an understanding of the growth and change over the past 10 years.
2. Organize and facilitate advertising and recruitment for leaders and participants throughout the year, paying special attention to underrepresented groups.
3. Oversee the planning, facilitation and ongoing development of the 12-15 leadership training sessions for trip leaders. This includes managing many details, maintaining databases, multi-tasking and updating training sessions as needed.
4. Assist in the planning and facilitation of the weekend ASB Leader Retreat in November.
5. Provide support and ongoing contact with student leaders, student participants, faculty advisors, and Break Away contacts to ensure the quality of the Alternative Break Program.
6. Maintain accurate information in databases of all people involved in ABP trips to aid in communication and in the publicity, advertisement, and assessment of past and future trips.
7. Organize the collection of accurate information about community agencies (Break Away sites) to be available for use by future trip leaders when planning their trips.
8. Plan, facilitate and handle all logistics for all trip sign-ups and trip payment process and all required forms. This requires communication and cooperation with the Leadership Team.
9. Actively participate in required CS-L weekly staff meetings, civic engagement activities, staff committees and retreats.
10. Share in the office duties necessary to promote the functioning of CS-L.
11. Active participation in a week-long summer Alternative Break Citizenship School's training conference sponsored by BreakAway (funded by Community Service-Learning), staff training in August (prior to semester start), and February 2010 staff retreat.

application process

Applying for a position is an easy three-step process:

1. Download the application and reference forms.
2. Distribute reference forms and request references to submit the forms directly to ABP.
3. Submit completed electronic application and resume to abp@jmu.edu by 5 p.m., Friday, March 20, 2009

Top candidates will be selected and contacted for interviews during the week of March 23-27.

If you have any questions, please e-mail abp@jmu.edu