While many college kids maybe spending their spring breaks taking it easy, some NJIT students are helping with the ongoing Sandy cleanup effort.

Students are sweeping, vacuuming, and hammering away at a local community development center in Newark damaged by hurricane Sandy. It‘s part of NJIT’s Alternative Spring Break program. Brianne Hollenbeck, a chemical engineering major, says she wanted to spend her vacation helping out.

“There’s a lot of people who stayed behind and decided to actually devote their spring break to something meaningful.”

Over 500 NJIT students are spending their break cleaning up and rebuilding in communities still recovering from Sandy. 22 other colleges and universities across the state are also participating in the program.