By AMEARA DITSCHE
Staff Writer
Every year Saint Rose offers several opportunities to do service outreach outside of the community here in Albany. Some are domestic, to places like Washington D.C. or San Francisco, while others are international like the upcoming one to Guatemala.
In some years only five or so students went. This year however, a ten student minimum was implemented or else the trip wouldn’t happen. The group had trouble finding ten people to commit. This could be due to the cost of the trip.
“It seems really great but the cost is high to pay fairly quickly, especially the down payment that was due Feb 12,” said Bobbi Valentin, a student interested in the experience but could ultimately not commit to the trip.
Eventually however, they did fill up the ten spots and the trip is happening this May.
Sister Sean Peters,one of the faculty leaders also spoke on the cost of the trip, saying that it may seem high but is worth it for the amount of activities and experiences fit in to the week long international trip, as well as airfare and board.
Kerrigan Mahoney is a Junior Music Education Major and RA in Brubacher Hall. This year will be her third year on the trip and second year as a student leader. She originally heard about the trip her freshman year from a friend and decided to go that year. She loved the experience and has been continuing to go since. Mahoney was actively engaging with Facebook groups connected to the College in order to find people willing to commit to the trip.
“I’ve always loved to travel and wanted to go on a mission like trip and just never had the opportunity until this” said Mahoney on why she felt inclined to go and continue going on the trip.
The trip started in 2004 when the current Dean of Spiritual Life at Saint rose wanted to take some of the volunteer work they were doing domestic international. The first eight or so years they actually went to Honduras before changing the location to Guatemala. Sister Sean Paul was involved in the initial planning as well as being the faculty leader to this day. Paul describes the trip as “eye opening” and attests that students who have been on the trip say it changed their lives.
“Our experience is not normative,” said Sister Paul when talking about why the trip can be so life changing for some students.
“I think it’s important for students to experience outside their culture. If you don’t see it you may think well why do we care, but then you see tin sheds and children carrying water for miles.” added Sister Paul. “It widens their world.”
During the trip students stay in Antigua, Guatemala and bus to the nearby School of Hope where they help teachers in classrooms. It is not necessary to speak spanish in order to participate. The School of Hope works with students from families struggling in extreme poverty. They focus on breaking the cycle and the side effects of it. They provide nutritional meals and snacks for the children as well as teach them important hygiene skills.
Another service aspect of the trip is stove building in small mountainous cities. The stoves in many of the homes trap smoke in which makes for unsafe living conditions. Students help to build stoves that are safer to use for the families living in small homes in the mountains.
Aside from the service aspect of the trip students also get to enjoy other activities in guatemala. They get to visit mayan territories which Mahoney describes as “beautiful and colorful” as well as climb Pacaya Volcano and toast marshmallows by its heat. They also go on boat rides down Lake Atitlan and visit the Chocolate Museum.
The trip takes place this year after the end of the semester from May 13 through May 25. The deadline to sign up this year has passed but if you are interested in going in the future you can contact Sister Sean Peters or John Dion.
