Farm chores in Texas at the crack of dawn may not conjure up a typical spring break experience, but a University of Michigan student says he welcomes the opportunity.

"It will be a nice respite of the normal busy Ann Arbor life of a student," said Ares Panagoulias, who is leading a caravan of 11 students to volunteer at a sustainable farm outside of Waco, Texas, as part of U-M's student-run Alternative Spring Break program.

Panagoulias joins 400 U-M students who are forgoing excursions to exotic locales, trips home and stay-cations. Instead, they'll pile into cars and vans and travel to communities from Detroit to Houston, where they'll volunteer and live for the week on the cheap in spartan accommodations.

Spring break for Eastern Michigan University and U-M is March 1-5.

The U-M students will travel to 32 U.S. sites and Toronto, Canada.

Seventy-five students from EMU will fan out to nine U.S. sites to volunteer during break. EMU students will rebuild houses and clear trails, volunteer at food banks and work at a shelter for rescued animals. The Alternative Spring Break program is part of EMU's VISION - Volunteers Incorporating Service Into Our Neighborhoods - initiative.

U-M students will partner with agencies that address various social issues - from domestic violence in Detroit to rural poverty in Kentucky's Appalachia region.

"They've been preparing for this all year," said Sara Gibbs, program director for SERVE, an initiative of U-M's Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning that provides support for Alternative Spring Break. Since the fall, students have raised funds, coordinated with agencies and organized and participated in training and education sessions leading up to the week-long trip, she said.

This is Panagoulias' third trip with the program.

"You end up getting more out of the experience that you can possibly give," he said.

The civil and environmental engineering junior from Chicago took his first alternative spring break freshman year to New Orleans, where he painted a school and helped rebuild the interior of a home. 

This year, he trained other student leaders and is leading the group to Texas. At the farm outside of Waco, he and the team will partner with the World Hunger Relief agency to teach people of lower economic status about sustainable farming.

"There's an emphasis on learning," he said. "It's as much about learning as it is about volunteering."

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter