Many students will spend winter break visiting family and friends. Some, however, will seize the opportunity to build relationships with families and make new friends during Service Immersion trips to Columbia;  El Salvador; Denver, Colo.; Los Angeles and Tuba City, Ariz. 

Aside from the excitement of traveling to different places, students engage in grass-roots activism by working as a team to connect with the people and identify social problems housed within their Service Immersion communities.

Daniel Junk, a journalism student who helped the Vincentian Community Service Office coordinate the “Hoops and Hopes” program at a West Side YMCA, recently participated in an immersion trip to Bogota, Colombia. Summing up his experience according to the Vincentian in Action Model, Junk said that the ultimate reward for him was being able to hear, understand and experience the realities of others and decide how to use those realities to create change.

St. Vincent de Paul observed that some persons look and never see while others see and never look. The immersion trips are designed to get students to see the issues that are often overlooked.

Service Immersion Coordinator Joyana Dvorak encourages students to learn about poverty and inequality so that proper responses to the needs of suffering communities can be met.

“A large part of the mission and vision of the program is to be present to the communities,” said Dvorak.  “Students can offer their hands and hearts by taking the time to listen to the dignity of every human story they encounter.”

Dvorak emphasizes the responsibility of carrying out the Vincentian Service legacy.

“It is our duty to delve deep within and discover how our spirituality can be used to connect with the world,” said Dvorak.

DePaul senior, Emily Edwards, has taken advantage of Service Immersion opportunities on several occasions.  Having gone to El Salvador, Kenya and Washington D.C., she advises applicants to be honest when answering the reflection questions and to let go of expectations.

“It can be very liberating to let go of what you think you’re going to experience,” said Edwards.

Recounting the trip to D.C., Edwards recalls how honored she felt to be trusted with personal stories shared by the homeless men she worked with at a shelter. “I saw the importance of being there to listen.,” said Edwards. “A lot of people ignore them… they don’t see the humanness of homelessness.” 

Anne Marie Kouba, a DePaul marketing junior, identifies with Edwards’ sentiments as a result of being immersed in Tuba City last year. The area is comprised of Navajo and Hopi Native American reservations. Kouba observed that although the Navajo and Hopi natives were in America years before her ancestors, they are now living in extreme poverty-jobs and educational opportunities are lacking.

“It was shocking to see the living conditions of the Native Americans on these reservations,” said Kouba. “I realized how important it is to be educated on what’s happening in parts of our country that don’t make headlines.”

Students who are interested in being a catalyst for change still have a few more days to make the deadline. Applications will be available on the OrgSync website until May 8.