University students with Volunteer LSU are preparing to embark on a service trip to Peru beginning May 28 as a part of Change Break Peru 2013.

Fifteen students and three advisers will visit the villages of Cai Cay and Cusco for 10 days to work with youth in a school setting and preform low-level construction work, said Meredith Keating, leadership and development junior and international service chair for Change Break.

Change Break Peru is the second alternate service project hosted by Volunteer LSU. The first was the inaugural event held in Cosby, Tenn., over spring break.

Keating said she and the other student volunteers have been meeting regularly to learn about Peru’s culture, as well as create games and plans to help teach the youth in Peru.

The goal of the trip is to challenge the viewpoint of students by immersing them in a situation they may not have experienced before, but also to make a difference in Peru, Keating said.

“We’re not just going to go and think that everything is going to be perfect after we leave, but we do want to make our mark while we’re there,” she said.

Assistant Director of Campus Life Josh Dean will be accompanying the students on Change Break Peru, and he said the trip will challenge students’ perspectives and show them how different poverty is in other parts of the world.

Dean also took part in Change Break Tennessee, where he accompanied nine students and another adviser to the poor Appalachian region.

He and University students participated in construction work and worked in a thrift store where they interacted with the people of the community, he said.

“We accomplished a lot of great work, but we also made good connections with one another as well with some of the community members in Tennessee,” he said. “I think a lot of the students left the experience inspired to want to do something more here locally, and also after graduation, they’re going to want to do something.”

Anthropology junior and domestic Change Break coordinator Kaylah Williams spent her spring break in Cosby volunteering for Change Break also.

Williams said she was able to make a lot of connections with community members and recalled a specific occasion where she was able to help a girl pick out a prom dress in the thrift store where she was working.

“It felt really good to just not only know that you’re doing well but to actually see someone’s face light up whenever you helped them out,” she said.

Williams said there will be more Change Breaks in the future that students can participate in, though the destinations have yet to be determined.

“I highly suggest if there’s anyone that wants a new awesome and different volunteer experience to definitely look into applying for more of a Change Break trip,” she said.

“It felt really good to just not only know that you’re doing well but to actually see someone’s face light up whenever you helped them out.”