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Spring Break Immersion Program

 

Holy Cross as a Jesuit school teaches the message of becoming men and women for and with others, emphasizing the importance of service. While Holy Cross offers plenty of opportunities to conduct service on campus and in the city of Worcester, an opportunity unique to the school is the chance to travel over spring break to another part of the country, serving a community beyond just Mount St. James. 

Every year, the Chaplains’ Office organizes the Spring Break Immersion Program, or SBIP, an opportunity for students to travel to serve different communities across the country, ranging in sites from Kentucky, Alabama, to Colorado. The purpose of these trips is to conduct direct service and foster connections with other communities,  immersing yourself in a life different than your own. Every year, around 250 students travel in student-led groups, working in churches, schools, community centers, soup kitchens and different community landmarks across the different sites. 

Last March, I got to travel to Narrows, VA through SBIP (fun fact-Dirty Dancing was filmed there!). I was the only freshman in my group, travelling with nine other students to serve the town of Narrows. Although this trip was daunting, as I was the only first-year in my group travelling with people I had never met before, this wound up being the most rewarding and affirming experience of my first year at Holy Cross.

During my trip, my group and I stayed at the Narrows Parks and Recreation Center, and worked at different sites in town. Each day was different, and each of us were able to work in a variety of service activities. We worked with the librarian in the town public library, helping renovate the library, rearranging and reconstructing shelves, organizing the books and reordering the books on the shelves under a new system of organization. We also got to work with town municipal workers, building park benches and trash can holders to be used throughout the town park grounds. Since Narrows is located in the Appalachian region, we were able to hike some of the trails and help clear debris with a local guide, making sure trails were safe for tourists. Through my service, I got to do things I never thought that I would have the chance to do, and got to become immersed in a beautiful town I never would have travelled to if it had not been for SBIP.

My group and I also had the chance to get to know the community beyond our service. Every night, different churches would host potluck dinners, serving delicious homemade food. We would eat with community members, and they were so kind and eager to get to know us. I still keep in touch with some members through social media, and will cherish the connections I made there outside of the service for the rest of my Holy Cross experience. The town not only fed us, but entertained us as well. Every night we were invited to a town event to further immerse us within the community. My group and I got to go to a Haunted House organized by the town, did karaoke, and we even went to a performance by a local lawyer who also worked as a children’s party entertainer as a magician and balloon animal artist. My experience was something I will never forget, fostering these unique connections with a community that was so generous and kind, shaping my experience beyond just the service aspect of the trip. 

These connections with other communities are as important as the ones you make with other Holy Cross students. You form a strong connection with other students you may not have met outside of SBIP, bonding with one another through this experience in a way that is different to other connections you make on campus. Every night, to conclude your day, you reflect upon the day’s work and experience with your group members, making sure you get the most out of every aspect of your trip, deepening your bond with your group members. This bond does not exist solely during the trip, but gets carried back to campus. I still stay in frequent contact with my group, despite three of our members having graduated, and some members currently studying abroad.

Spring Break Immersion is something unique to Holy Cross, and oftentimes can be overlooked by students. It is an opportunity not many schools offer, and is something that many students identify as a Holy Cross Bucket List experience. I can say with complete confidence that this experience was the best experience I have had at Holy Cross thus far, deepening my commitment to the school and to service. 

 

Michaela Lake ’22
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Unplug, Unwind, and Discern

Olivia Hastie ’22

 

One of the many life-giving experiences at Holy Cross is the Spiritual Exercises Retreat. Students from all faith backgrounds and communities sign up to partake in this experience because it offers a peaceful environment to rest and reflect.   A brief description of the Exercises as written on the Holy Cross Retreats webpage: 

“What do you desire? What is God inviting you to? How do you integrate your faith with decisions you make in your life? What are the movements of your heart? Do you desire freedom and inner peace? An adapted version of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, this five-day silent retreat is an opportunity for reflection and prayer. In silence, you will be given the opportunity to reflect more deeply about your faith, the power of God’s love for you and your relationship to others. In addition, time for personal prayer and reflection and liturgies, thematic talks are given by the Chaplain retreat directors to help assist in your faith journey.”

This five day silent retreat offers students an opportunity to unplug, unwind, and discern where their Holy Cross education is taking them. As a sophomore making lots of decisions like where to study abroad, what to major in, and where my Holy Cross education is taking me, I thought fall break would be the perfect time to attend. I had also never been to the Thomas P. Joyce ‘59 Contemplative Center  and was feeling a little bit left out of that part of my Holy Cross experience. I’m so glad I ended up deciding to participate. 

I knew a little bit about the Exercises from classes I had taken and my general knowledge of the Jesuits. Though challenging, the silence was a beautiful way to experience discernment and contemplation. I’ll also add that throughout the five days, each day contains four sessions where you hear and learn about the actual exercises of Ignatius. Each day participants also have the chance to meet with a Spiritual Director to talk about where he or she is in her faith journey and what he or she is looking to accomplish on the retreat. Realistically it’s not complete silence. There’s also lots of individual activities, like painting, hiking, and playing instruments.

The retreat also takes you through the Jesuit concept of finding and knowing God. Over the course of the five days, I experienced several moments where my vision of God changed. Instead of seeing God as a higher power, I started to see God as a friend walking with me through life. This is one of the many revelations I experienced on retreat. Other people go on the retreat to begin their relationship with God, and others go to be still. It was particularly moving to watch the sunrise each morning and remind myself that there is something greater than I out there. The experience was overwhelming life giving, reminding me to take time to be still and be reflective.

Overall, it was an exceptionally moving experience. Students from any faith background can have a moving experience of the exercises. Spending five days unplugged and silent helped me not only grow in faith but grow in my own self-knowledge. I took time to think about what the future may hold and how I want to spend my next two years at Holy Cross. I’m looking forward to hopefully going again senior year and using the time to pray and think about my own life in a different way.

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What did you do over Spring Break?

 

written by Mackenzie Horl ’17

This year was my third year participating in the Spring Break Immersion Program run by the Chaplains Office. I can honestly say that my experiences on “Appa,” as the program is commonly referred to at Holy Cross, have been some of my favorite and most transformative while here on the hill.

From the time I was a first year at Holy Cross, I had repeatedly heard older students talking about the Spring Break Immersion Program. I heard rumors about how much fun people had at their sites and the friendships that lasted well beyond the one week spent in Appalachia. Unfortunately, nerves got the best of me and I did not sign up for the program as a first year student. However, when I heard my roommate’s stories about her group and all those who she served during her first experience on “Appa,” I promised myself that I would not miss out the next year.

That was a promise that I would keep to myself for the remainder of my spring breaks at Holy Cross. I have visited Ivanhoe, Virginia, Barren Springs, Virginia and Wheeling, West Virginia respectively. At each site, I met unique people and came to better understand their struggles. I found myself in parts of Appalachia that I probably would have never experienced, had I not decided to go on Spring Break Immersion.

This year, I went to Wheeling, West Virginia with twelve other students from Holy Cross. I spent the week living and working in The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling. Each day we ate breakfast and lunch with the patrons who visited the soup kitchen, many of whom were homeless. There were numerous times during this experience that I felt like I had ventured outside of my comfort zone. Before this experience, I had never really come into contact with homeless people before. However, this experience was eye opening for me and taught me a lot about the society that I live in and how the homeless are treated.

I am always amazed when I meet my group each year at the Spring Break Immersion send-off held in Kimball. The night consists of an hour or two of making small talk and getting to know one another. Conversation usually revolves around questions like “what grade are you in? or “what is your major?” Usually I find myself wondering if I made the right decision to go away to a place that I have never been before with fellow Holy Cross students who I have never met before. However, after my first day of the service trip, I always know that I made the right decision. This year, I went to Wheeling with twelve strangers and I returned to Holy Cross with twelve new friends. I look forward to seeing my Appa friends around campus in between classes or meeting up at Cool Beans to chat about life.

I am thankful to the Spring Break Immersion program for opening my eyes to the injustices that people in the United States face. I know that the three weeks that I have spent in Appalachia throughout my time at Holy Cross have meant much more to me, than to those that I have served. However, I hope to take these experiences back with me to Holy Cross and wherever my life journey takes me.