2008 Woodie Awards
Immersion programs add two new sites
Kate MacNair '08
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
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Campus Ministry's Immersion Programs are expanding, as two sites have been designated as annual trips. The newly established programs include New Orleans/Gulf Coast and Uhusiano, Tanzania, while the programs Native American Experience, Rostro De Cristo, Ecuador, and Los Niños remain staple sites.
Each trip has a specific purpose to fulfill, but they all involve the Jesuit ideals of spirit, intellect, and purpose.
Two years ago, Saint Joseph's Campus Ministry took 12 students on a trip to New Orleans. This year, they are returning to the site of one of the U.S.'s most devastating natural disasters in order to strengthen and maintain the bonds they made.
The trip will last eight days and take place over winter break. There are two student leaders, 10 student volunteers, and two facilitators.
With a focus on education and community, the students hope to bring back what they learn in New Orleans to St. Joe's. Matthew Fullmer, Head of Immersion Programs, explained, "[the] purpose is to create a better, stronger community through understanding."
To further this understanding, a second documentary may be made that will show the students at St. Joe's how people there are coping while trying to restore their city. In addition to the city of New Orleans, a second site has been added: a town on the Gulf Coast.
Since the purpose is to establish and maintain relationships, the trip must be made annually, otherwise families may move and lose touch.
Student Body President and co-leader of the New Orleans immersion program Michael McDonald, '08, explained that they are building the program "so it lasts for over a period of several years. The first trip was a response and reaction to the disaster, but this time it's more educational. We need to go back because we need to understand what went wrong, so it doesn't happen again."
He added, "Even now, two years after the storm, so many people are in need of rebuilding and social services, community, and friendship."
Each trip has a specific purpose to fulfill, but they all involve the Jesuit ideals of spirit, intellect, and purpose.
Two years ago, Saint Joseph's Campus Ministry took 12 students on a trip to New Orleans. This year, they are returning to the site of one of the U.S.'s most devastating natural disasters in order to strengthen and maintain the bonds they made.
The trip will last eight days and take place over winter break. There are two student leaders, 10 student volunteers, and two facilitators.
With a focus on education and community, the students hope to bring back what they learn in New Orleans to St. Joe's. Matthew Fullmer, Head of Immersion Programs, explained, "[the] purpose is to create a better, stronger community through understanding."
To further this understanding, a second documentary may be made that will show the students at St. Joe's how people there are coping while trying to restore their city. In addition to the city of New Orleans, a second site has been added: a town on the Gulf Coast.
Since the purpose is to establish and maintain relationships, the trip must be made annually, otherwise families may move and lose touch.
Student Body President and co-leader of the New Orleans immersion program Michael McDonald, '08, explained that they are building the program "so it lasts for over a period of several years. The first trip was a response and reaction to the disaster, but this time it's more educational. We need to go back because we need to understand what went wrong, so it doesn't happen again."
He added, "Even now, two years after the storm, so many people are in need of rebuilding and social services, community, and friendship."
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