Spring Break Service Trip to New Orleans Impacts BVU Students
Ten Buena Vista University students participated in a service trip during spring break, enabling them to volunteer their time and service with a focus on disaster relief and clean up in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ten Buena Vista University students participated in an AWOL (Alternative Week of Off-site Learning) trip during spring break, enabling them to volunteer their time and service with a focus on disaster relief and clean up in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Students interested in helping with hurricane disaster relief and promoting community empowerment traveled to New Orleans, where they teamed up with the non-profit Camp Restore to assist in community rebuilding and restoration. This experience exposed participants to the disaster that is still present in New Orleans nine years after Hurricane Katrina.
Advisors for this experience were Ken Meissner, director of spiritual life at BVU, and Jessica Henrichs, BVU AmeriCorps VISTA.
"Absolutely every service site-supervisor raved about our site-leaders, each student, their leadership skills and their tremendous work ethic," said Meissner. "The service trip to New Orleans was special to me because I had the chance to see how well a team can blend together if each person is invested in building others up and validating one another in all situations."
Henrichs added,"While in New Orleans our students were able to see the issues that affected New Orleans, but also the long term effects in other areas of the United States, including Iowa."
Bonnie Keller, a senior biology major from Sioux City and student site leader for the trip said,"We were able to partake in many diverse activities like planting and potting trees (550 collectively), sorting 5,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads, participating in restoration projects at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and putting together 500 booklets for kids at a school. The relationships our group made with each other and the people of New Orleans alone made an impact on us. It is truly amazing to see the hope, passion and love the people of New Orleans have and share."
Charles Webster, a senior criminology and criminal justice major from Panora was also a student site leader for the trip. Other students who participated in the Post-Disaster Community Relief AWOL trip were Meng Di, a junior business marketing and financial decision making major from Shijiazhuang, China; Joshua Fortmann, a senior biology major from Cedar Rapids; Joseph Hindman, a senior biology major from Sioux City; Reine Kwizera, a sophomore biology major from Kigali, Rwanda; Lisa Sabrina Munezero, a sophomore biology major from South Bend, Indiana; Tyler Puls, a senior history-secondary education major from Geneseo, Illinois; Jasmin Ramirez, a junior social work major from Marshalltown; and Taylor Yearous, a sophomore corporate communication major from Sumner.
AWOL has sent more than 641 volunteers and completed an estimated 27,916 hours of service worldwide, furthering its mission to immerse students in different cultures, heighten social awareness and advocate life-long social action through service on a local, regional and international level.
Four AWOL trips took place this year, with 40 BVU students participating. The other trips focused on animal advocacy in Kanab, Utah; inner-city poverty outreach in Atlanta, Georgia; and grassroots sustainability and economic development in Nicaragua. Learn about BVU's other AWOL service trips...