Baylor students choose service for spring break

Baylor’s spring break officially began today, but already, students have fanned out across the country and even across the globe. Hundreds of Baylor students are using their spring break to serve others, including about 70 students who are in Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and along the Texas-Mexico border on discipline-specific mission trips through Baylor Missions.

Baylor Missions provides opportunities each summer and over spring break for students to take what they learn in class and put it to use in Christian service around the world. Right now, five teams of students and faculty are serving in the following ways and places:

• In the mountainous regions of Guatemala, many residents are unable to receive basic medical treatments, and often simply accept maladies that could otherwise be treated. Nineteen Baylor students involved with the American Medical Student Association are partnering with Global CHE to set up temporary clinics to provide free care to residents.
• A second trip to Guatemala is partnering with Buckner International to participate in community development service projects. A team of 11 students are learning more about the needs of families, children and orphans in the region and how to meet those needs in a variety of ways.
• Eleven Baylor students are observing local medical clinics in the Dominican Republic, serving wherever needed and providing routine checkups. The students serve through the Baylor Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students and will come back with a better understanding of service of the underprivileged in the medical field.
• Students from Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing are working with a local church in Lima, Peru, to offer physical assessments and health education. In addition to service, the 13 attendees are also researching and studying local health practices.
• A team of 16 students travelled to the Texas-Mexico border to promote and increase literacy in the Eagle Pass area. The students read to preschoolers each morning and serve local children through a local literacy program in the afternoon. The team is also working through Mission Border Hope and Literacy ConneXus to build relationships with area students.

Research shows that students who attend such mission trips benefit from the trips just as much as the people they serve, often returning with a tangible experience of living out their calling and vocation to serve others — Baylor’s mission statement in action.

Sic ’em, Bears in service!