The Denisonian

Issue date: 1/26/10 Section: Up Hill, Down Hill

Media Credit: Courtesy of Meg Gaertner Clare Meernik helps a student with an essay on a specific social justice issue.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Elena Speridakos Junior Sarah Theobald and freshman Kate Ludwig help Fahd, a refugee child, with his science and spelling homework as part of a Refugee Economic Independence Program.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Corey Ackerman Sophomore Juliana Lisuk, freshman Elizabeth Shoby, freshman Jamie Lydenberg, and sophomore Jacob Pfeil unload supplies at their work site, the Splinter Hill Bog Nature Sactuary.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Jeffrey Block Junior Jeffrey Block skydives over New Zealand.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Allie Midel Junior Allie Midei with her host sister, Justine, in Kédougou, the town where she lived.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Hannah Turpin Junior Hannah Turpin in Tiananmen Square.

This past winter break, Denison students were offered the opportunity to attend a service project for their last week of vacation. Student groups traveled to different locations across the U.S. including St. Louis, Memphis, and Atlanta. In these three locations, students worked tutoring youth, educating refugees and preserving the environment. Through their efforts, students helped the communities and came away with their own lessons from the unique service experiences.

Perdido, Ala.: Environmental Justice
By Colleen Henegan
Special to The Denisonian

After a refreshing 13-hour drive to the southern tip of Alabama, 13 of Denison's budding environmentalists found themselves in the middle of Splinter Hill Bog Nature Sanctuary.

This preserve is owned by the Nature Conservancy of Alabama and is home to many amazing species of plants and animals including long-leaf pines, six species of carnivorous pitcher plants and gopher tortoises.

It was our job to clear miles of trail through the forest to prepare for the prescribed burns that happen every February. These burns are invaluable to this ecosystem and allow for new growth to sprout up after the fires burn out.

We were able to really get to know the amazing workers that help maintain this forest year-round as well as learn and reflect on the major impacts that humans have on the world around us.

The members of our group came together as a family during the many adventures we had that week, and we are extremely proud of the work we accomplished.

Memphis, Tenn.: Unemployment and Urban Issues
By Elena Speridakos
Special to The Denisonian

During our trip to Memphis, we worked with the United Methodist Neighborhood Centers. This organization manages eight food pantries, two thrift stores, a childcare center and a Refugee Economic Independence Program.

The highlight of our trip was working with refugee women and children. Since some parents do not speak English and cannot help their children with homework, we made an impact by tutoring refugee children in the afternoons.

We also taught a citizenship class for women studying to become United States citizens. The Denison students who participated learned patience, courage and compassion while working with these women.

At the end of our visit, one refugee woman that we had all grown close to taught us some of the basics of Arabic, her native language. Our other activities included working in a soup kitchen and handing out produce to the homeless. We had a meaningful experience helping UMNC, exploring Memphis and posing for a photo with an Elvis impersonator on our free day.

St. Louis, Mo.: Educational Equality
By Meg Gaertner
Special to The Denisonian

This trip focused on education and its relationship to poverty in the cities of St. Louis, Mo. and East St. Louis, Ill. We spent five days volunteering at the Youth Technology and Education Center, which is an after-school program that provides help with homework, tutoring, and the teaching of writing skills to students.

We helped fourth through ninth graders write research papers on the history and causes of different social issues. They were writing the papers for a competition with a prize of a $1,000 savings bond.

We also helped catalog the YTEC library. Additionally, we worked at a warehouse that provides free school supplies to teachers in inner-city schools, at a soup kitchen and thrift shop and at the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School, where the curriculum focuses on the development of the whole individual through art and music in addition to the more traditional school subjects.
During our free day, we went up the Gateway Arch, visited Forest Park, and spent several hours at the City Museum in St. Louis.

Memphis, Tenn.: Public Health
By Kelly Folkers
Editor-in-Chief

My trip went to Memphis, Tenn., to volunteer at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. This hospital is one of the top 25 children's hospitals in the country and is a leading provider of children's healthcare in the mid-South region.

We volunteered in different parts of the hospital, including the emergency department, same-day surgery, outpatient clinics, playrooms and, the favorite of the group, infant care. Many times, we were sent to specific patients' rooms to be beside buddies when a child's parents could not be with them.

Le Bonheur truly is a wonderful place, since the hospital is able to provide medical care for families who are uninsured. Doctors also see their patients for life, even if the patient is well into adulthood. Every doctor, nurse and administrator that we met loved working at Le Bonheur, and we learned that children often need more than medicine to get well.

Get away

Each semester, students decide to continue their Denison education off campus, and, often times, in an entirely different country. From Europe and New Zealand to Africa and China, students went abroad to a wide array of countries this past semester. Along with their formal studies, students came away with more knowledge in the different cultures and ways of life.

Name: Jeffrey Block

Major/Minor: Psychology major, history minor
Country & Program: New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington

Favorite Memory: In the middle of the plane ride going up to skydive, I thought we were really really high up already, but my instructor then tells me we are only 3,000 feet up in the air. We were jumping from 9,000 feet.

Most Foreign Aspect: Instead of ketchup being on the table at restaurants they use tomato sauce. Definitely not the same. Also, they don't tip anywhere, its great.


Name: Hannah Turpin

Major/Minor: East Asian Studies major, music performance and French double minor

Country & Program: Xi'an, China, Alliance for Global Education

Most Foreign Aspect: When exchanging presents, you never open it in front of the giver. You simply say "Thank you" and set it aside until you can open it in private.


Name: Allie Midei
Major/Minor: French and English literature double major

Country & Program: SIT Senegal: Arts and Culture

Most Foreign Aspect: The Wolof language does not have a word for "sad." At first this was very hard for me to believe, but over the course of my time there, I found this fact to be very reflective of their culture. Though they do have ways of expressing this feeling without actually having a word for it, sadness is not really a part of their everyday life. Crying is somewhat unacceptable and one of the fundamental values of this ethnicity is to work through problems rather than dwelling on them and being "sad" about them. They are very happy and outgoing people and this all made it easier to feel welcomed within my host family and the culture in general.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools