Giving Up Spring Break to Give Back

UNT students volunteer at Camp Summit

A group of North Texas students are staying put for spring break to help out at Camp Summit in Argyle.

Nearly 20 UNT students are spending their week at Camp Summit, a camp for children and adults with special needs.

"We serve campers with all different disabilities, whether that is a developmental delay, and intellectual delay, or a physical disability," camp CEO Carla Weiland said.

Shelton Alves, a University of North Texas graduate student, said it's "a lot better than hitting the beach."

"I wouldn't trade this for anything," he said. "The way I feel at the end of the day -- you can't beat that."

He and other UNT students are participating in the alternative spring break program.

"Years from now, they [other college students] will look back and say, 'I was just at Cabo for a week.' I can look back and say, 'I helped someone for a week,'" senior Roxanne Ziegler said.

"This is an option for them to come to for spring break and have a special trip to go back to school or back to their jobs to talk about," Weiland said.

Other students are scattered around the country helping others on their days off.

"It's just numerous things, like, in New Orleans, they help build homes. In Galveston, they're helping with the wildlife," Alves said.

For some, it's a week of excitement and a chance to give back for others.

"They focus on their abilities, not their disabilities," Ziegler said.

Camp Summit offers weeklong camp sessions all summer. For the first time this year, they will offer camp in the fall.

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