Lockhart, S.C., normally doesn’t top the list of spring break destinations, but recently a handful of Radford University students journeyed to the small town with a goal to revitalize the spirit and beauty of a town facing economic hardship.

The project is part of a new alternative spring break program, sponsored by the university’s Department of Career Services and Community Engagement (CSCE), designed to train and immerse students in a service learning experience, aimed toward connecting the students with community members.

Mission accomplished.

“This trip was an amazing experience for the students and for the community members of Lockhart,” said Alexia Springer, a junior recreation, parks and tourism major who was hired as a peer service leader by CSCE. “I couldn't have been more pleased with the students who went on the trip. It was truly amazing how giving and compassionate they were.”

Lockhart Town Clerk Brenda Cameron agreed, telling “The Union Daily Times,” “You can talk with them, ask them questions and get good answers,” she said. “They are our future, and if the future depends on young people like them, we’re going to have a good one.”

Throughout the week, the 12 students painted Lockhart’s old town hall – residents hope to convert it into a museum – and they spread fresh coats of paint on a bridge and the town’s lighthouse.

“If it was sunny, we painted; if it was raining, we found other ways of being productive, like picking up trash, fixing overgrown sidewalks and scraping paint chips from an old apartment,” Springer recalled.

Each day, the group picked two students to lead work projects, an initiative designed to help “students develop their leadership skills, take on more responsibilities and ownership of the trip and work on their communication skills,” Springer said.

A major contribution to the students’ learning experiences, Springer noted, came directly from casual conversations with the residents of Lockhart. “The students really tried to understand the history of Lockhart and get to know the people who live there,” said Springer.

Alternative spring break was intended to assist with beautification and revitalization efforts in Lockhart, a town with a population of 616 that has struggled economically since a local mill closed, said Tim Filbert, an assistant director of Career Services and Community Engagement who accompanied and worked with the students in Lockhart.

The students didn’t choose Lockhart; the town, which sits about 80 miles northwest of Columbia, S.C., was picked for them when Filbert and Teresa Dickens, a fellow assistant director of CSCE, began planning the alternative spring break program. Together, they worked with the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, which matches college student volunteers with communities in need of assistance. The organization led Springer, Filbert and Dickens to Lockhart Mayor Ailene Ashe.

In May, CSCE is planning a trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Cherokee National Forest to work with members of the Cherokee Nation, Filbert said. The trip will be much like the service experience in South Carolina.

Among the last experiences for the group in Lockhart was an exercise in which each student worker wrote a letter to themself that Springer will mail back to them next spring break.

“They wrote about their experience as well as a reflection process of: what, so what, and now what,” Springer said. “I hope next year when they get these letters they can remember the time they had in Lockhart, see how far they have come since they wrote the letter, and reflect on how the trip affected them in their day-to-day life.”

The students’ work in Lockhart didn’t end when they left the town. Springer said the group has plans to return in December to build a float for the town’s Christmas parade.

"Overall, it was an exceptional and powerful learning experience for our students, and the town leaders developed an extremely positive image of the students and RU,” Filbert said.

Town residents were impressed and thankful for the hard work put forth by the Radford University students, including Mayor Ashe, who wrote on her Facebook page, “Heading out of Lockhart on Old Union Road toward the Recycling Center you will cross an old bridge which now has silver shiny rails painted by guess who – yep, the students from Radford University. Thanks again Radford!”