October 25, 2006

OWU's Spring Break Mission Project Members Announced

Spring break might mean relaxing, going to a beach, or catching up on the “latest” from hometown friends — but not for the OWU students on mission projects.

Spring Break Mission Week, March 10-18, 2007, in keeping with the Ohio Wesleyan University mission of education for leadership and service, provides a variety of unique opportunities to respectfully serve and experience other cultures. Each project is carefully designed to facilitate growth in spirituality, servant leadership, intercultural understanding, social justice, and the academic connection between service and learning.

Says Kelly Adamson (’00), associate chaplain for mission and vocation, “We are looking forward to another successful year as students begin delving into learning about their service sites and the issues they will encounter there and as they begin the fundraising process that makes all of this possible.”

According to Adamson, missions and vocation received 80 applications for about as many spots. The applications are reviewed by each team's student team leader, spiritual guide, and two faculty/staff advisors. Each team receives a copy of every application that indicates the applicant is interested in its team, and each team has its own selection criteria based on the nature of its project. Spots on each team are limited, so students can't always be placed on their top choice teams.

Senior Sarah DelPropost comments, “I am looking forward to the Lakota trip because I think that the displacement of Native Americans is a topic that has been marginalized in American society, just as the Native American people, who were and still are affected by the U.S. governmental policies against them.

“In an age where the younger generation is being increasingly infected by the plague of apathy, learning to engage our minds to raise awareness and inspire our hearts to think logically, emotionally, philosophically, and progressively about the issues that we encounter is to me what the service experience represents. Recognizing people as people first, regardless of anything external, and instilling within a team respect for that common bond of humanity, refraining from judgment, and seeking to understand an experience and life that we do not live everyday is the challenge of service work, but also the reward.”

The Spring Break Mission Teams were announced October 6 and include:

Hurricane Katrina Recovery
This team will research where it will be most effective in assisting with hurricane recovery. During spring break the team members will implement their plan and spend time working with a local gulf agency doing recovery work. Members: Tara Pavlovacak, Emily Rose, Ryan Yoder, Nicholas Johnson, Amanda Matthews, Nicolette Setola, Edward Thode, Matthew Greene, Brian Cafarella, James Long, Sara Nienaber, and Eunice Golloh. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Barbara Andereck and Bob Barnes. Spiritual Guide is Matthew Yoder and Team Leader is Jonathan Smith.

Women in Community: The Benedictine Experience
Participants will spend the week alongside strong women of faith. They will experience the Benedictine model of weaving community, prayer, and social action together in the life of faith as they help with a variety of the sisters’ service projects, learn about the social justice initiatives of the sisters, and participate in the community and prayer life of the monastery. Members: Kate Kriegel, Natalie Cunningham, Kayla Mravec, Katherine Townsend, and Shannon McHenry. Faculty/Staff Advisor is Kelly Adamson. Team Leader is Laura Coonfield.

Border Team
This team offers students the opportunity to examine the dynamics that exist on the Mexico-US border. Students will explore these dynamics from both sides of the border. Members: Sally Born, Laura Harden, Chioke Barkari, Ayan Garip, Catherine Carrai, and Jordon Swisher. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Elizabeth Curseen and Akbar Mahdi. Spiritual Guide is Amanda Mook. Team Leader is Sarah Palladino.

Collegiate Challenge: Habitat for Humanity
Team members participate in what has become a national tradition by spending spring break 'concretely' serving through relationship and construction. Members: Elizabeth Griffith, Emeri Schwartfigure, Helen Gernsey, Dan Freed-Pastor, Alison Park, Jake Barnett, Laura Sedlak, Nelson Mandrell, Robert Naples, Summer Quesenberry, AnnaMarie DelPropost, and Jaime Fluer. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Chad Jones and Paula Travis. Team Leader is Steve Yang.

Building and Rebuilding: Lakota Nation, South Dakota
This intentionally interfaith team will engage the mission to rebuild Lakota-Anglo relationships through conversation, reflection, and service. They will help build a house, serve meals in the senior center, assist with children, and meet with the spiritual elders at night. Members: Brian Fahey, Elizabeth Benoit, Cheslyn Lesick, Vance Brown, Taylor McCleneghan, Sarah DelPropost, Nathaniel Cook and Erin Dreman. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Lisa Spradley and Chris Mickens. Spiritual Guide is Tyler Fox. Team Leader is Ben Goodrum.

Love and Hope Ministries, El Salvador
Team members will seek to develop an appreciation for the economic, social, and political conditions in El Salvador as they serve the most vulnerable — dispossessed children. The team will serve with Love and Hope Ministries, an evangelical Christian ministry,"sharing, providing, and caring."  Members: Ella Claney, Maria Fullenkamp, Amanda Zechiel, Ben Malecki, William Kenny and Megan Downing. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Mike Hollway and Amy Warfield. Spiritual Guide is Janna Dagley. Team Leader is Katie Donnan.

Two Communities of Faith: The Missionaries of Charity and Newman
This team will work with Mother Theresa's order of religious sisters in their men's homeless shelter, soup kitchen, and food and clothing bank, situated in the heart of Rome, Italy. Participants will also explore the Catholic faith by visiting the holy sites of Rome, going to Mass and St. Peter's, and attending a Rosary service with the Pope. Members: Claire Knight, EvaCecilia Koh, Robert Matthews, Tara Sesito, Amy Neureither, and Paul Krog. Faculty/Staff Advisors are Wendy Piper and David Sizemore. Spiritual Guide is Melanie Brenneman. Team Leader is Tricia DiFranco.

Given the great number of students who are interested in spring break mission week, a new team was added. This new team will work with the Appalachia Service Project doing home repair in Chavies, KY. Members: Braden Kessler and Michelle Senesac. Spiritual Guide is Terry Williams and Team Leader is Katie Ayers.

With the addition of the Appalachia team, there are four spots remaining on the Spring Break Missions Team working with the Appalachia Service Project and five spots on the Summer Team Crossroads of the Powerful and Powerless to Washington, DC.

While student-led faculty/staff advised projects provide grounds for amazing and often life-changing experiences, they also require extensive preparation and fundraising. Fundraising events are a commitment to any one of OWU’s mission projects and yields a myriad of opportunities to be challenged to grow, be of service, be humbled, and be forever changed. The Spring Break Mission Week is a project of the OWU Chaplaincy and Community Service Learning.

Look for more information on OWU Mission fundraising events and on the Summer Mission Teams in future editions of Connect2. All team members will be available to do general yard work, rake leaves, or do housework for a donation to their team on November 4. In addition, the Holiday Bazaar will be Sunday, December 10, in the Slocum Reading Room.

— Lynne McBee