Some local students head for spring break of different kind

WILKES-BARRE – Many students from King’s College and Wilkes University will be enjoying some fun in the sun next week for spring break.

A much smaller group will be using their week “off” helping others.

Twenty Wilkes students are heading to New Orleans or the Dominican Republic for community service projects. Thirty-seven King’s students are also journeying to warmer climates in Mexico, El Salvador and Durham, N.C., with similar purposes.

After Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans and its surrounding areas, Wilkes students made the Crescent City a destination for its annual “Alternative Spring Break.”

This year’s projects in the Big Easy will find the 11 students working with various nonprofit organizations such as St. Bernard Animal Shelter, St. Bernard Community Center, New Orleans City Park and The Association for Retarded Citizens.

“This trip is very important to me because there are people down in New Orleans who believe the rest of America has forgotten about them,” said Jodi Maciejczak, a junior nursing major from Hanover Township, who will be one off 11 Wilkes students making the weeklong trip.

“It’s amazing to me that a small group from a small university in Pennsylvania is making the trip to lend a helping hand. I think it shows that service needs to be something that occurs all the time, not just in time of crisis.”

The nine Wilkes students going to the Dominican Republic will collaborate with Orphanage Outreach. They will teach English to elementary-age students in a classroom setting.

“This service trip means everything to me because it represents me getting my foot in the door to do service work abroad,” said Wilkes student Derek Nye, a sophomore biology major from Ulster who’s headed to the Dominican Republic.

“My future career plans include continuing to do service abroad with Doctors Without Borders. I want to make a difference and see the effects of it firsthand.”

Eleven King’s students are heading to Monterrey, Mexico, for ministry work with the Parish of La Luz. Chris Ward, a junior mass communication major from Packer Township, Carbon County, will be among them. He previously has spent time in the Gulf Coast and a homeless resource center in Phoenix. He said he goes on the trips for many reasons, among them his interests in helping others and exploring the world.

“It’s seeing a world that’s not yours and seeing how other people live. It’s a real eye-opener. You learn a lot about yourself and the things you value in your life… It gives you a very stark and very real image of poverty,” Ward said.

King’s College Director of Volunteer Services Leeanne Mazurick said she’s impressed each year by the number of students who volunteer to help others.