Ryan Blaha can't wait to hit the beaches and bars in sunny Florida. But Beth Vaughn is on a different mission, looking to help Mexican immigrants in Texas.

The two Southeast Missouri State University students are among thousands of college kids across the country who are gearing up for spring break. At Southeast, spring break begins after classes Friday and runs through March 24.

Blaha, a 21-year-old senior from Belleville, Ill., said he loves the bars, babes and beer in Panama City, Fla.

"It gets pretty crazy," he said.

He and nine buddies have rented two motel rooms within walking distance of the bars and beaches that cater to the crowds of college students that descend on Panama City for spring break.

"A good spring break is going with a bunch of close friends and meeting up with a group of girls you can hang out with," said Blaha, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Southeast.

"You've got to have the right kind of clubs and bars that promote drink specials," Blaha said.

He said a student could spend as little as $500 on a five-day trip.

Panama City is popular with Southeast students because it's only an 11-hour drive, Blaha said.

Bryan Schubert, a 22-year-old senior and fellow fraternity member, in past years has taken spring-break trips to South Padre Island in Texas and to Panama City.

This time, he's going snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colo., with eight other friends. "I love snow," said Schubert who is from Millstadt, Ill.

For Schubert, the slippery slopes of Colorado should be just as much fun as the wave-kissed beaches. "It's a big party town," he said of Breckenridge. "A lot of spring breakers go there from all over the country."

Faking it

For under-age students, a fake ID is essential, he said. "My first spring break, I had a fake ID," Schubert said.

Students, he said, have fewer inhibitions on spring break. "Isn't that what spring break is all about?" he asked.

That's not Vaughn's idea of spring break. She's among a dozen students and staff with Catholic Campus Ministry at Southeast who are planning to spend spring break working in a shelter for Mexican refugees in San Benito, Texas. The Catholic shelter is about 30 minutes from the Mexican border. It provides temporary shelter for Mexicans seeking political asylum or legal residency in the United States.

"It is designed to be educational and kind of open our eyes to social justice issues," said Vaughn, a 21-year-old junior.

Vaughn said she's looking forward to the trip. "I thought I should do this," she said. "I want to include charitable and volunteer work in my life."

Maeve Roach feels the same way. She and her friends are going on a Baptist Student Union mission trip to a rundown neighborhood in Denver's inner city.

"I honestly think it would be much more fun than taking a trip down to the beach," said the 20-year-old junior from St. Peters, Mo.

Fourteen students and Bob Houchins, BSU director, are leaving Friday on the trip. While in Denver, the group plans to help fix up a house used for short-term shelter. The students also will work in a soup kitchen, participate in prayer walks through the neighborhood and help out with a Bible club for children.

Roach said she and her friends still will have some time to sightsee. They hope to get in one day of skiing before heading home.

But it's the mission work that excites Roach. "This is going to be so much fun," she said.

Long-distance breaks

Many other Southeast students are set on partying during the weeklong vacation from spring classes. Some are willing to travel far to party.

Travel agent Mark Hill of Destinations Unlimited in Cape Girardeau said a few hundred students a year visit his business to plan their spring-break trips.

Hill said 75 to 100 of them will fly to distant party sites such as Cancun and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico as well as Jamaica.

Hill said students can get four-night trips to such hot spots for $700 a person, which includes meals, hotels and air fare.

Emily Schoemehl, a 20-year-old junior from St. Louis, plans to vacation in the Bahamas. Schoemehl, who will be making her first spring-break trip, can't wait to hit the beach.

"I want to come back tan," she said.

Leslie McCulloch, a 22-year-old senior from Sullivan, Mo., partied in Panama City last year. This year, she's staying home. McCulloch, who recently bought a new car, said she can't afford to take a trip this spring.

Despite her stay-at-home plans, McCulloch was in a spring-break mood Wednesday. Dressed in a purple sarong, sandals, and a lei, McCulloch clutched a hula hoop as she operated a booth at a health fair for students in the Towers residence hall complex.

The Center for Health and Counseling at Southeast sponsored the health fair, which included health screenings, massage therapy and 600 spring-break bags for students including condoms and information on safe sex. The bags also included saliva-test strips so people can learn almost instantly if they're drunk.

The Peer Education Association provided the test strips, which may generate more talk than action. McCulloch, the group's president, said the test strips are more likely to be used at school than on spring break.

McCulloch's already issued a few words of caution to Schoemehl and other friends journeying out on spring break. "Just know yourself and know what your limits are" she said.

Judy St. John, director of Center for Health and Counseling, warns of the dangers of alcohol abuse at spring break.

"You want to remind them to take care of themselves," she said. "Think before you drink. Be smart. Don't be stupid."

St. John said Southeast students, like college students everywhere, view spring-break trips as an essential part of college life.

"Students have a feeling it's an entitlement," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123