Offered by Religious & Spiritual Life and the Wooster Volunteer Network, our goal for these trips is that a small group of Wooster students develop a community that can plan and successfully execute service and reflection through which they are exposed to people, cultures, needs, and talents outside of their regular experience. In order to build community, learn about the communities to which they are traveling, and raise funds for the experience, participants are chosen early in the fall semester of each year.
We seek to engage the group in a ‘praxis’ (action/reflection/action) experience that deepens their awareness of global and human interdependence and connection. Students should work and learn alongside communities with differing talents, contributions, and needs.
The reflection component brings into play a range of resources including those from the various faith traditions represented by the campus group and our hosts. For more information, contact Religious & Spiritual Life.
Regularly offered trips
Tijuana
Religious & Spiritual Life partners with Trinity United Church of Christ to offer an intergenerational service opportunity in Tijuana Mexico each spring. The trip is run through Esperanza International, which has had a relationship with Trinity UCC for more than 15 years. While there, students and members of the congregation participate in building projects and reflection with the community in Tijuana about border concerns, immigration, and poverty.
West Virginia
Each year a group of about 25 students travel with Dr. Charles Kammer to WV. The group is half U.S. students and half international students. While there the students live together and work in the community under the direction of the ecumenical West Virginia Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps. Students reflect on topics related to sources of energy, the function of religious life for impoverished communities, structurally enforced class bias and privilege, and global experiences and attitudes toward service and poverty.