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As part of a service learning class, 20 students, two faculty members and a Tennessee Tech University alumna spent spring break delivering supplies and working with children in Santo Domingo. This is the fourth year in a row that Theresa Ennis, director of university assessment, and first year for Sandi Smith, associate professor of instructional technology, have taken students to the Dominican Republic as part of a study abroad course. Numerous students have signed up multiple times to spend their spring break helping others abroad, said Ennis. I have an handful of students who have taken this trip two or three times. The impact of giving back to others is that powerful. The orphanage, Hogar El Faro, is in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. About 30 children live in the compound, which includes living quarters, a cafeteria and a playground. Nearly 200,000 Dominican children are officially considered orphans, according to an international adoption agency. Many more parentless children exist outside the system. The Tennessee Tech team worked every day from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. In a week, the students painted the outside of the orphanage s buildings, playground equipment, the cafeteria ceiling and the complex s front gate. They convened on the roof of the hotel everyday to reflect on the day s activities. I ve traveled a lot before, but this was my first service-learning trip, said Vanessa Goecking, a senior economics major from Aachen, Germany. It made me look at life from a different perspective and appreciate what we have in the USA or Germany. We have so much and the people over there have so little, and still they seem so much happier. Many of the students who traveled to the Dominican Republic are members of the Tennessee Tech Roteract Club, a branch of the Rotary International service organization. While on the Caribbean island, Tennessee Tech students connected with members from the Santo Domingo Roteract club. The group brought more than 200 pounds of school supplies and treats to pass out to two nearby Dominican Republic schools in need. Students toured the capital when not helping at the orphanage or distributing supplies. Ennis said that about 20 percent of her students speak Spanish. Smith shot more than three hours of video footage over the trip, and says she hopes to release a 10-15 minute documentary online this spring. It s a powerful trip for both parties, said Smith. The students learn that they have the power to change lives around the world, and the children learn that people from so far away care about them and want to help. |