A Spring of Learning

Stacey May  

The Mount offered four different trips students could apply to go on during spring break. The Center for Service offered three RISE trips (Rother Immersion Student Experience), and Dr. Timothy Fritz, Associate Professor in the Department of History, led a trip to Charleston, S.C. The RISE trips went to St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont., Nazareth Farm in Salem, W.Va. and the Romero Center in Camden, N.J.   

Six students and one full-time staff member went to St. Labre. This was the second year this trip was offered. The Mount has an extended relationship though previously with St. Labre through a scholarship program their school has with the Mount.  

Students focused on building relationships with the people of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribes, particularly with the children of St. Labre school. They got to experience Mass with the tribes, special prayer services and witness how the Natives combine their traditions with Catholic practices. They also serve as ambassadors of the Mount in their interactions with students and elders of the tribes.  

Eight Students went to Nazareth Farm. This was the fourth year the Mount offered this trip. Francis Lukban, director for the Center of Service, described it as the most “traditional” service trip, where you “get your hands dirty.”  

Students from the Mount lived simply in prayer and community at the farm and did service through building, demolition and yard work. Though it is a lot of hands-on service, it is also relational, and leads to deep connections with the community and with each other.  

Nine students went to the Romero Center. This was the fourth year the Mount offered this trip. The Romero center does a lot of service through local schools in Camden, so students did a lot of work with children, helping to meet food insecurity needs and assisting other non-profits in the community.  

Lukban emphasized the importance of these trips in helping students live out the Mount’s mission statement, to “lead lives of significance in service to God and others.” He said, “In doing the work of service, we are answering our call to serve each other, to serve the vulnerable and to serve God.” Service transforms communities, but also students themselves.  

Eight students went on the Charleston trip: two graduate students and six undergraduate students. It was the fifth year that the trip ran, and it is sponsored by the Paarker Dailey Fellowship. The focus of the Charleston trip was how communities tell their stories, specifically looking at how the “Old South” portrays stories of pride and slavery while appealing to tourists.  

The group spent time exploring historical houses, visiting museums, going to plantations and eating tasty food so they could discuss how the sites' stories were told. They also went to Savannah, Ga. for a day, to visit a plantation and ride a river boat.  

Fritz described the spring break trip as a “bite-sized” experience. Though it is not a long trip, it gives students the opportunity to think about how communities are formed, even out of painful experiences.   

Katie Pate (C’29) went on the trip to the Romero Center. She was impacted by how much presence supports communities, and that it felt like being the hands and feet of Jesus on earth where people need Him. She said, “I learned that service doesn't always have to be hard physical labor, but just the act of showing up!”   

Samuel Leppo (C’26) went on the trip to St. Labre. He said the most impactful part of the experience was participating in a sweat lodge ceremony, which he described as, “a deeply prayerful and reverent spiritual practice of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow people.”  

Leppo added, “One thing that was particularly profound to me was the immediate and endless welcome that we were shown by the Northern Cheyenne and Crow communities. The openness with which community members shared their stories and traditions was very humbling and deeply meaningful. It is an experience that I encourage all students to partake in if they have the opportunity.”  

The Mount offers these trips every spring break. So next year, apply for the chance to serve these communities and grow in relationship with their people and stories!