Students Travel To Nicaragua for Mission Trip
posted 10/19/09
Community invited to fundraiser at JR’s Hometown Grill & Pub on Oct. 27

Several of the students going to Nicaragua helped host an open house for the new Institute for Health Studies during Homecoming weekend.

ADRIAN, Mich. - In December, 15 Adrian College students will travel to Nicaragua with the medical mission organization, International Service Learning(ISL). The students are hosting a dinner fundraiser at JR’s Hometown Grill & Pub on Tuesday, Oct. 27 and the community is invited.

The fundraiser will be an ideal opportunity for the students to showcase the trip for the entire community. Located on Division Street in Adrian, JR’s Hometown Grill & Pub will share proceeds from its Tuesday Taco Night with the students.

Grants from Student Government Association and the dean of academic affairs have provided a funding platform, but students are also soliciting gifts from family, friends and their communities to defray trip costs as airfare alone is approximately $1000 per student.

Most of the participants are planning careers in health care, dentistry or another health profession. During a 14 day trip, they will travel to urban and rural clinics with local physicians and dentists to provide medical and dental care. Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, in which 80% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. For some patients, our students may be the first “dentists” or “doctors” they have ever seen.

Students find this a compelling cross cultural experience, in which they learn how medical care is delivered around the world. For many students, this trip is also an opportunity for Christian service. In addition, patient contact and clinical experience gained on the trip will strengthen their skills as they enter professional school. Gabe Holdwick and Adam Hull, president and vice president of the Adrian College Pre-Health Professions Club, have traveled with ISL before, and were a driving force behind the trip.

International Service Learning is an educational agency that offers medical and educational teams of volunteers the opportunity to provide essential services for the underserved populations of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Africa. Last year over 1,200 students from over 100 universities participated on ISL teams and provided medical care to over 100,000 people. To learn more, visit their official web site at www.islonline.org.

Holdwick, who traveled in 2008 to Panama and Costa Rica, commented on his experiences.

“Providing dental care by flashlight, with chickens scratching underfoot is an experience I will never forget,” he said. “The opportunity to help people in such a direct, immediate way confirmed my personal commitment to a career in dentistry.”

The Pre-Health Professions Society mobilized interested students and selected the trip destination. They are receiving administrative, academic and funding support from the Institute for Health Studies, Student Government Association, the Dean of Academic Affairs, and Dr. James Hanley, associate professor of political science. Dr. Hanley will teach a course this spring in which students will complete projects based on study areas they examine while in Nicaragua.

Before their departure, students will be tutored in Spanish by modern language professor Dr. Don Cellini. His weekly sessions will develop student daily language skills with a focus on medical terminology.

“We are so grateful for the response of the Adrian College community to this program,” noted Marcia Boynton, director of the Institute for Health Studies. “Many faculty and staff have responded on a tight timeline to organize this first trip so our students can develop as future health professionals. We look forward to making foreign and domestic medical service trips an annual experience for Adrian students planning careers in health care.”

For more information on the Nicaragua trip, or to make a donation, please contact Marcia J. Boynton, JD, director of the Institute for Health Studies at 517-265-5161 ext. 4079 or via e-mail at mboynton@adrian.edu .