During one spring break, students at James Madison University in Virginia participated in 15 " alternative spring break" trips to nearby states, three others to more distant parts of the United States, and five international trips. One group of JMU students travelled to Bogalusa, Louisiana to help rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Another group traveled to Mississippi to organize creative activities for children living in homeless shelter. One group of students did go to Florida, but not to lie on the sand. They performed exhausting physical labor such as maintaining hiking trails and destroying invasive plant species that threaten the native Florida ecosystem.