April 2, 2008

One Student Shares Her Life-Changing Experience

Amy Tuttle ’08 and the other 13 participants on this year’s Spring Break Mission Trip to Chicago pose for a quick shot before getting to work.

After traveling to the Appalachia region in Kentucky her freshman year, to Ireland her junior year, and recently to Chicago, the psychology major with minors in sociology and black world studies has decided to work for a non-profit organization called Mission Year after graduation.

“It’s basically going to be a yearlong spring break experience,” says Tuttle, noting that she decided to add minors in sociology and black world studies based on her involvement in the University’s Spring Break Mission Trip program. She’ll likely be working for a homeless shelter in an urban location such as Philadelphia while attending graduate school for international development.

Along with 11 other students and two staff advisors, Tuttle traveled to Chicago during this year’s break to experience urban poverty firsthand. They made the 5 ½-hour trek using public transportation and bunked on air mattresses in the basement of a church.

“We all kind of huddled in the basement, which was good in perspective-gaining because it was very cold down there, and it wasn’t the most comfortable conditions,” she says. “But we really wanted to try and simulate as much of an experience of homelessness and urban poverty as we could, so that really gave us some good insight—that and the public transportation.”

The group spent one day working at Inspiration Café in Chicago, serving food to the homeless in a restaurant-style setting. Another day was spent roaming the city with bagged lunches, giving the trip-goers a chance to interact with the less fortunate and give a real identity to urban poverty.

“That was a really unique experience in learning what is the face of homelessness and what is the face of poverty,” says Tuttle. “It was really interesting to see like how diverse the face of homelessness is. We learned so much about how many similarities we had with people that we were talking to; a lot of the people we were talking to had college degrees and came from similar backgrounds.”

Tuttle is quick to share her own experience and how it has impacted her life and career aspirations, but she doesn’t think she’s alone in finding a true niche in the Spring Break Mission Trip program.

“Many, many students do multiple Mission Trips because they have great experiences,” she says. “And there are a lot of students that, after they do a Mission Trip, their world changes. They’re truly life-changing experiences.”

To hear a podcast containing more details about Tuttle’s experience, visit the Events section of the OWU Podcasts site. In the coming weeks, watch for additional Spring Break Mission Trip stories and podcasts in Connect2.

– Ann Marcum