May 5, 2010
Volunteering leaves quite an impression on students
Students forgo fun in the sun over spring break to volunteer their time and talents at sites around the world.
Last year Christian Shiveley ’11 (Berlin, MA) helped edit a documentary that captured a volunteer trip to the Dominican Republic taken by Women’s Center Director Toby Simon and a group of students.
So when the opportunity came up this year to be part of the team that returned to the Dominican, Shiveley jumped at the opportunity. During spring break he joined five classmates to work with the locals living in the small fishing village of Guayacanes.
Also taking part in the trip were Jose Batista ’11 (Providence, RI), Jose Maldonado '11 (Holyoke, MA), Jessica Reategui '10 (Wethersfield, CT), Taryn Smith ’12 (Voorheesville, NY) and Ashley Hoek '11 (Sherborn, MA). Simon and Associate Sociology Professor Sandra Enos accompanied the group.
On Wednesday, the students premiered “Bajo la Sombra del Turismo (In the Shadow of Tourism): Lessons Learned on the Soco Batey, which chronicles their experiences working on a batey (sugar plantation) in the Dominican.
“The whole trip was memorable, and the experience was life changing,” Shiveley says. “Working on the batey and being completely immersed in a different culture totally changed my views on the world.”
Continuing to serve
Shiveley has traveled around the United States, but the excursion to the Dominican was his first trip outside of American borders.
“I knew before going to the DR that we were privileged to be living in America,” he says. “But seeing just how little they have and how much they endure, really gave me a new perspective.”
A sociology and service learning major, Shiveley says he plans to return to the Dominican one day to continue his volunteer efforts. “Taking part in community service puts you on the front lines and exposes you to ways of living that you might never have had a chance to experience,” he says.
Hoek says she discovered that volunteering is most impactful when you find something you are passionate about. As part of her classes, she had been reading materials about disease, sanitation problems, and lack of education in third-world countries. The trip allowed her to experience it firsthand.
Despite their living conditions, Hoek says everyone was extraordinarily friendly and welcoming. “People usually relate poor areas with danger and violence, but I felt safe,” she says.
Perhaps the most eye-opening experience, says Hoek, was spending a week without technology such as cell phones and the Internet, which are everyday staples back home.
“We immersed ourselves in the culture and embraced it,” says Hoek. “We had conversations with everyone. This helped us get to know each other better and learn more about the locals who we were living and working with. It was a very upbeat, relaxed environment that felt so peaceful.”
Back in the United States, Tom Lapinski ’11 (Garden, City, NY) was part of a group of students who took part in their own service learning experience – Bryant’s annual Alternative Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C. He will never forget the afternoon he spent playing bingo with the elderly residents at Little Sisters of the Poor.
“The woman I was helping won three times that day,” says Lapinski. “When we were done she told me that she never won at Bingo and that I must bring her luck. She told me I had to come back next week so she would win again. It felt really good to be appreciated for such a small action.”
In addition to working with Little Sisters of the Poor, the group interacted with children at St. Anthony’s Elementary School and sorted donations at Food and Friends.
Lapinski is regularly involved in community service projects through the student-run organization Bryant Helps. He feels it is important for students to give back because their contributions make a difference. “Many people just doing a little bit can make a tremendous impact,” says Lapinski.
Kelly Partridge ’12 (Wethersfield, CT) will never forget delivering meals with Food and Friends, an organization that provides food to those with AIDS and other terminal illnesses.
“They were all very grateful and appreciate, and they made me feel like I was really making a difference,” says Partridge.
‘See their faces light up’
Alyssa Robidoux ’11 (Natick, MA) says the best part of going on her first Alternative Spring Break trip to Washington, DC, was working with the kids at St. Anthony’s.
“We had the chance to interact with them and see their faces light up when we played with them and helped them do their homework,” she says. ‘We could really see the impact we were making, and it was an amazing feeling.”
Robidoux says volunteering doesn’t feel like work. “It is a fun and great way to spend your time because you get as much out of it as those you are helping.”
Earlier this semester, Liberty Mutual helped to ensure that future students will be able to continue to take part in this memorable experience as Bryant was one of 10 schools across the country to receive a $1,000 grant to support its Alternative Spring Break program.
“We want to recognize these students for the impact they are having on our communities,” says Maura Quinn, university relations program manager for Liberty Mutual, “and let them know that their work continues to inspire us to help them make a difference in someone’s life.”
Check www.bryant.edu tomorrow to read more about another Spring Break service trip to New Orleans to help the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina, as well as an earlier trip several SIFE students took to Los Angeles to help an area that was ravaged by
wildfires. The story will include a slideshow of photos from all of the trips.
