Jan 2, 2016 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – Nearly 50 Waynesburg University students will be traveling in four groups to several countries during winter break as part of the school’s annual Faith, Learning and Service Immersion Trips.

Three groups of students and faculty members will be traveling abroad to the Nassau, Guatemala and to the island of Bonaire off of South America, with one group remaining in the country to visit Wynne, Ark.

The largest group, which includes 17 students, left for Patzun, Guatemala, on Thursday and will be there until this Friday to serve at a nutritional center. Pat Bristor, the associate dean of students, and graduate assistant and Ryan Smith, are helping the students as they spend time with children at the center teaching them the English language and oral hygiene. Other projects during the trip include helping make repairs to the centers.

Evonne Baldauff, a chemistry professor and chair of the university’s Department of Chemistry and Forensic Science, and chemistry professor Heidi Fletcher will take another team of six students to Arkansas from Monday until Saturday. While there, the students will volunteer at a public school and help to educate elementary students on the fundamentals of science.

Another 11 students studying education are traveling to Nassau, Bahamas, today and will be there until Saturday as they work with the Mission Academy Ministries there to help public school classes and build relationships with teachers and students from a different culture. They will also spend time with the children during recess and lunch and can observe in the classrooms. Education professors Julia Bausman and Frank Pazzynski are leading that team during the week-long trip.

The final group of 13 students left Saturday to work with Trans World Radio, an international broadcast ministry on the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles, and will continue serving there until next Sunday. While there, they will help the broadcasting group create production schedules, radio lines, videos and promotional materials. Students will also help to archive the station’s documents and island archaeology. That trip is being overseen by Jacquelyn Core, the university’s provost and vice president of academic affairs, history professor Karen Fisher-Younger, academic event planner Abby Pittinaro, Eberly Library Director Rea Redd.

The next mission trips to New Orleans, Concord, N.C., Camden, N.J., and Carrillos, Costa Rica, are schedule for march during the spring break.