Getting muddy with dogs, sorting cans of food, and pulling weeds may not seem like college spring break, but for some University of Arkansas students that was all part of Alternative Spring Break in Northeast Arkansas, the resting place of Silas Hunt in South Arkansas, and New Orleans.

The week after a former student opened fire in a classroom on the Northern Illinois University campus, killing five and wounding others, Dr. Jonathan Perry, director of UA Counseling and Psychological Services was asked to help train NIU faculty and staff for how to deal with the return of their students and the kinds of things they would all be feeling.

The University of Arkansas is going tobacco-free on July 1, and will then be the first flagship university in the country to make such a move. The marketing campaign for the policy is positive and fun and was created with a team of students.