During spring break, the University of Notre Dame offered a variety of educational trips that allowed students to continue learning outside the classroom. Through programs run by the Institute for Social Concerns, the O’Brien Notre Dame International Security Center and On Purpose, students spent the week engaging issues of justice, security, health and community.
The Institute for Social Concerns calls its spring break programs “Proximities,” one-credit seminars where students engage questions of justice. This year, the institute offered four immersive experiences: “Arts of Dignity,” “Environmental Justice in Cancer Alley,” “Justice at the Border” and “Whole Person Health Care.”
“Arts of Dignity” explores themes of inequality, housing and migration through art studios in Philadelphia. “Environmental Justice in Cancer Alley” examines environmental racism, community resilience and adaptation in New Orleans. “Justice at the Border” focuses on why migrants leave their home countries and how border communities respond in Tucson, Arizona. “Whole Person Health Care” explores the intersections of health care, poverty, housing, addiction and migration in Minneapolis.
A representative from the Institute for Social Concerns wrote in a statement to The Observer, “Students engage with local leaders, community organizations and the people who are most impacted, paired with research and analysis to develop informed responses to the issues they investigate. Seminar topics are selected each year based on the most urgent signs of the times.”
Applications for these programs typically open in November and are due in December. Each seminar holds about six students, intending to promote serious discussion and participation. These seminars have been offered by the Institute for more than 40 years.
Senior Samara Jacobo, who attended “Justice at the Border,” wrote that she believes genuine engagement with justice requires listening to people’s stories, witnessing their realities and understanding how policies shape lives.
“Justice at the Border examines why migrants leave their home countries, what they encounter at the border, responses from the U.S.-based citizen and faith groups, and the effectiveness of U.S. enforcement policies. The course involved five days in the Tucson, Arizona, borderlands area during spring break,” Jacobo wrote.
“Hearing about migration is not the same as witnessing it. During this trip, we met with individuals and groups in or around border towns who are working toward justice in their own ways: providing resources, food and water as well as advocating for change in immigration policy.”
Sophomore Mark Bausch attended the “Whole Person Health Care” trip, which took place over five days in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Bausch wrote that because he hopes to work as a pediatric neurologist while addressing disparities in access to health care, he especially valued the experience.
“Whole Person Health Care examines the U.S. health care system’s intersections with poverty, housing, addiction, and migration through the lens of Minnesota’s health care system, recently ranked as one of the best in the United States,” Bausch wrote. “It’s important to recognize that while it is easy to focus on the negative and the numerous problems and injustices present in our society, there is also a lot of good. People work to support their neighbors, and we are the next generation of individuals that will carry out that important work.”
The O’Brien Notre Dame International Security Center, also known as ONDISC, offers its own range of experiential learning trips. According to research assistant Rossana Piñeyro, the trips are designed to connect rigorous classroom study with real-world national security challenges.
Past ONDISC trips have included Japan in spring 2025, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii in spring 2024 and Vietnam in fall 2022. This spring, ONDISC traveled to Poland, where the focus was on NATO’s eastern flank, civil-military relations, historical memory and contemporary European security.
The center received nearly 50 applications for 26 available spots, with a selection process based on a holistic review of applicants’ academic interests, engagement with ONDISC programming and how the trip aligns with broader academic and professional goals.
“The program combines meetings with policymakers, military officials and scholars, visits to historically and strategically significant sites and a staff ride component in which students analyze past military campaigns on the ground,” Piñeyro wrote.
“Ultimately, we hope students leave with a more nuanced understanding of international security, greater intellectual confidence and a clearer sense of how they might contribute to the field, whether in academia, government, the military or the private sector.”
Justin Cannata, who attended the trip to Poland, wrote, “The trip included time in Gdańsk, where we studied the Solidarity Movement, the siege of Malbork Castle and the opening of World War II at Westerplatte. We also spent time in Warsaw, where we met with experts in political science, military strategy and diplomacy. In addition, we spent a significant amount of time learning about the Warsaw Ghetto and the broader historical context surrounding it, which was both powerful and deeply impactful.”
He wrote that the experience reminded him how much there still is to learn about histories and perspectives that can be overlooked depending on one’s academic background and personal experiences.
On Purpose, a program started by the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, offered spring break programs that traveled to two locations: Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles and Pueblo communities in New Mexico.
Allie Griffith, assistant program director for evaluation and student formation, attended the On Purpose spring break trip as a staff leader.
“On Purpose invites students to think intentionally about what it means to be a force for good in the world,” Griffith wrote. The program encourages students to “think about radical love as a lens to understand social realities, and also as a way to better develop their personal character and formation.”
Junior Cate Bowen attended the On Purpose trip to LA. Bowen wrote that students spent time with the Homeboy Industries community, the largest gang intervention and reentry program in the world.
“Much of our time was spent touring Homeboy’s social enterprises, which provide training and mentorship for ‘homeboys’ and ‘homegirls,’ as well as visiting the two Learning Works Charter schools affiliated with Homeboy that support at-risk students,” Bowen wrote.
Bowen wrote that the most meaningful part of the trip was “meeting people with life experiences completely different from my own, including former gang members who had spent years in the incarceration system, unhoused individuals living on Skid Row, and students whose needs were not met by the traditional education system.”
Sophomore Kaylin Hart attended the On Purpose trip to New Mexico, writing, “The Pueblo Communities trip entailed visits to and conversations with students and educators at Indigenous Catholic, charter and public schools, including St. Joseph Mission School, St. Anthony’s Indian School, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian School and the Native American Community Academy.”
She wrote that hearing firsthand about the effects of Spanish colonization and U.S. boarding school policies “deepened my understanding of both the harm that was done and the resilience of Indigenous communities in preserving their traditions and identities.”
In regard to her trip on the whole, Hart wrote, “Opportunities to deeply engage with a community or issue, especially at no cost, are rare, and they offer a chance to expand your perspective and challenge your assumptions in ways that go far beyond the classroom.”
