For most, spring break is a long-awaited time to sit back, relax, sit on a beach, or for those who aren’t as lucky, watch lots of Netflix. However, for a number of Calvin students, spring break was filled with much more activity. The Service-Learning Center offers spring break trips that allow students “a unique opportunity to enter into a different context for a week.” By exploring a new city or community, students learn about God’s faithfulness beyond their own context (Calvin.edu, Service-Learning Center Spring Break Trips page).
Junior Randy Foreman led a trip to Chicago, Ill. The group focused on serving a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago called Woodlawn. The group attended a week-long program called Bridge Builders which is focused on teaching people from the suburbs and rural areas about the issues of the impoverished inner-city.
“We were there to serve the neighborhood and learn about … the problems that these residents lived with day to day,” said Foreman.
Going to a new place, even if it’s not all that far from home, can present many possibilities for eye-opening experiences: “I was surprised by the realities of the area. Chicago gets the reputation of being horribly dangerous and no one should go there, yet our group felt safe the entire time,” Foreman commented. “It shows the difference between the media’s perception from outside and the reality from inside”
Foreman said that on the trip he felt God helped him discover some profound truths about his own life: “He taught me a little about what it means to be a light-skinned black man from the suburbs living in the south side of the city for a bit. I learned more about the privilege I hold from my skin color as well as where I am from. There are so many conversations I haven’t had to have because of my environment that I would have had there in Woodlawn.”
A change of environment and opportunity spurred a lot of thoughtful conversation among group members. Foreman mentioned that he appreciated listening to the thoughts his group developed about present day issues in response to what they were seeing.
Community development proved to be a common theme among service-learning trips. Noah Praamsma and Nate Roels co-led a trip investigating economic, social and environmental impacts of Mountaintop Removal coal mining. They worked with the Big Laurel Learning Center in Kermit, West Virginia, founded 40 years ago by two nuns as a school. The founders are still active in the community and continue to teach locals and visitors about Appalachian culture and the problems facing West Virginia.
The group exercised their bodies as well as their minds by working on odd maintenance jobs around Big Laurel, including restocking their wood supply, clearing out ditches and helping out with another local charity organization in Kermit. They learned about the effects of a process called mountaintop removal, a form of surface mining that involves mining the summit of a mountain. Roels mentioned that “it was surprising to see how mountaintop removal is so connected to the whole world. As consumers of electricity, which comes from coal, we were able to see how our use of electricity creates the demand for the coal that they mine, and how the mining has a negative impact that spreads far from the mountain.”
Along with hard work and learning, Roels said there were also plenty of laughs and unexpected moments along the way: “I’ll always remember how my stereotype of nuns was shattered by Sister Kathy, who, in her 70s, would zip around on four-wheelers, chop wood, operate a chainsaw and throw us an elaborate St. Patrick’s Day party,” he said.
Michelle Putlak is a senior at Calvin majoring in Kinesiology and led the trip to Grand Isle, Louisiana. This was her third year making the trip with Calvin and her first time as a leader. She said, the purpose of the trip was to help the community on the island with any type of hurricane relief or repairs they might need. They also focused on learning about the community through conversations with members. She also mentioned the importance of context when interacting with new people: “There were heavy statements made by the people of the community that we were immersed in, and there was potential for others to get offended by those statements,” she said. “But, considering their situational context and culture, we were able to better understand their mindset and reasoning for making such bold statements. Using this understanding of their background, we were able to move into deeper community with them, and ultimately within our group when we reflected on what we had heard and experienced.”
Kurt Delos Trino, a junior, co-led the Perkins Fellows Leadership Program trip with Katie Hickman and Carley van Neuren. Their trip mentor was Karyn Farrar-Perkins. The group headed south to Jackson, Miss., to learn about social justice. Delos Trino said that “the students also learn about the importance of fighting against racism by learning what it means to understand the importance of life as Christians. We have a mission as Christians to fight for the lives of those oppressed due to their skin color or racial identity, and we can do this by learning and acting against racial injustices within the community we live in.”
Meal preparations proved to be a valuable time for connection on the trip. “I think one of my favorite parts about this trip was cooking with my small groups and having good conversations,” said Delos Trino.
Delos Trino believes that taking the opportunity to go on a service-learning trip is a meaningful way to widen one’s worldview. “[When we] experience the problems of injustice in our own country it challenges us Christians to think deeply about racial reconciliation and really become agents of renewal.”
Meghan Bogema co-led a trip to Mendenhall, Miss., with Ellie Hutchinson. They worked with a group called Mendenhall Ministries, founded by John Perkins “in response to the poverty and inequality experienced by the African American community. The topics our group discussed and explored were racism and reconciliation and overall learning about the surrounding Mendenhall Community,” Bogema reflected.
Bogema said opportunities to learn and listen abounded during the trip. “God has continuously taught me the importance of listening. There is immense value in listening to a community and what the community desires. In Mendenhall it was a blessing to connect with the pastors, church staff and children attending the art camp and just listen for a week to the lived experiences that each individual has encountered in that community. Often times it can be easy to quickly slip into giving advice or getting to work right away, but sometimes it is important to pause and just be present in that space.”
Putlak expressed the significance of service learning trips and the opportunities students have to glean valuable life skills.
“Along with the relationships built with the people in the area I visited,” said Putlak. “I was able to build incredible relationships with the other Calvin participants and mentors that went along with me.These trips also develop the valuable skill of reflection. Being able to process and talk about an experience with others is very important in a person’s development.”
Bogema also lauded the positive aspects of being involved in one of these trips.
“The Service-Learning Center intentionally crafts thoughtful yet fun spring break trips that allow students to learn about a new community and serve in certain capacities, while also gaining new friendships and tools to bring back to their own communities.”
Be on the lookout next year for upcoming trips with the Service-Learning Center.
