As most of the college students in the country jumped on planes for Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Cancun, Loyola University Chicago freshman Bola Olukanni headed down to St. Charles Louisiana for a very different Spring Break experience. Bola chose to spend her week off volunteering to help people whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Rita.

After reading about the opportunity on MTV’s website, Bola applied to be an Alternative Spring Break Volunteer with United Way. She could choose between United Way projects in three locations: Lake Charles, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi and Detroit, MI.

Bola chose Lake Charles and began packing her bags not with a bathing suit, but with work clothes. It’s a choice that Bola says she would happily make again.

“It was really amazing,” Bola says. “It was just so great because everyone there was to help.”

From March 1 to 9, Bola and her fellow volunteers spent their days rebuilding and reconstructing houses, repairing local schools, and working to rebuild camp shelters and a nature trail damaged by Hurricane Rita.

“The staff who worked for UWA was amazing,” Bola recounts. “Everything was organized and fun.”

Bola spent the beginning of her week at a house that was nearing the end of construction. Her job was to work on the bathroom and one of the bedrooms. Toward the end of the week, she helped stock a ship that brings help to disaster-stricken areas.

The experience was one that Bola will not soon forget.

“I would definitely do it again,” Bola says. “It was fantastic.”

Alternative Spring Break is a United Way program that engages young people between the ages of 18 and 24 years old in meaningful volunteer service. For the last two years, think MTV and United Way partnered to create a week-long alternative spring break in the Gulf Coast. This spring, 500 students lent their spring breaks to make communities stronger by volunteering with United Way. For more information about Alternative Spring Break, visit http://unitedway.org/asb