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Eight UTampa students are in Seattle this week for a spring break focused on service and culture. Madeline McMahon M.A. ’24, a writer in UTampa’s Office of Marketing and Communications, is accompanying the students and will send reports and videos back to campus through the week.

Read on and check back to learn what it’s like to go on a spring break trip with UTampa’s PEACE Volunteer Center.

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In what is sure to be a week of “firsts” for the UTampa students on the PEACE Volunteer Center’s spring break trip to Seattle, add snow to the list. For Terah Smith ’28, Eyethu Simelane ’29, and Zariah Johnson ’29, that first glimpse of the white stuff happened as soon as they got off the plane on Saturday.

It had already been a long day, but the Spartans were determined to get acclimated fast. Ramen in the quirky Fremont neighborhood, where the group is staying in a hostel this week, followed by shopping in an underground antique mall, gave everyone a quick introduction to Seattle and the week ahead.

Chase Robinson ’29 is the site leader on this trip, and neither she nor any of the other students have been to Seattle before.

Many of the students have never done a service trip before, either. This week, the group will visit and help at several Seattle-area nonprofits, including Mary’s Place, an organization that supports the local homeless community, Mount Rainier Food Bank, Food Lifeline and Earth Corps.

But first, on Sunday, the Spartans hit the iconic Pike Place Market downtown for Beecher’s “world famous” mac 'n’ cheese, tea and spice emporiums, flying fish, gorgeous flower bouquets, handmade trinkets and more, including a Dracula-themed gift shop and a colorful kawaii boutique.

The group cooked dinner at the hostel and played card games before calling it a night in anticipation of a busy Monday at Mary’s Place.

The students are ready to make a difference and learn a lot in service to others. Check back here through the week for more reports from the Pacific Northwest.