While thousands of students flock to Rocky Point and other exotic locales for spring break, some UA students are traveling to the Big Easy – but not for Bourbon Street.

Students will trade in spring break staples like hours tanning on a beach and late-night binge drinking for hours of manual labor and late nights sleeping in tents to help rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Mississippi Coast.

Forty-seven UA students have volunteered their time and taken money out of their own pockets this spring break to take part in a coordinated national effort to help with the continued relief and rebuilding efforts on the Mississippi Coast.

The UA chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ organized the trip to the area, but an official said not all the students taking part of the trip are members of the religious student organization.

Erin Sisemore, a member of the UA chapter who organized the event, said she turned down two other trips with friends next week because she “”wanted to do something good for spring break.””

Sisemore, a computer science senior, said the chapter was part of a national effort to send thousands of college students into the area during spring break. Because spring break varies from one college to another, the national effort will last six weeks and more than 130 colleges will participate.

She said more than 2,000 students across the nation are expected to help clean debris and build homes with Habitat for Humanity.

In addition to helping physically, Sisemore said offering emotional support to those whose lives were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina is just as important.

She said she wanted to listen to them, to offer her love and to share the gospel with those willing to listen.

Campus Crusade for Christ describes itself as “”an interdenominational ministry committed to taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations.””

To pay for the trip, Campus Crusade for Christ received $600 in ASUA funds, raised another $600 and received a donation from a Baptist church in Nogales.