Thursday, March 26, 2015

Student at USU awaits service trip to Thailand

By Sadie Hughes

Laney Cork, a student at Utah State University, will immerse herself in a culture she has yet to experience when she leaves to teach English to children in Thailand. Cork will leave for her four-month endeavor on May 4.

Cork’s last final exam for this semester is on May 1, and three days later she will board a plane to Thailand. Jennifer King, the head teacher for the trip, is among six other women who will go with Cork. They will return to Utah on Aug. 19.

ILP is the International Language Program that organizes service trips like this one. “ILP hosts several schools in other countries for children who otherwise would not receive schooling,” Cork said.

“I’ve always absolutely loved volunteering and working with younger children, so the ILP was perfect for me,” Cork said.

Cork and the other volunteers will spend each day teaching children ranging from three to six years old. Cork has worked at orphanages in China and Nicaragua in the past and said those experiences were good preparation for the trip to Thailand.

"It took about half a year of interviews to be accepted into the program," Cork said. Last semester, Cork worked to earn money for the trip while going to school full-time.

Leslie Searle, one of the seven women going to Thailand, said her preparation has involved getting immunizations, saving money and gathering supplies like story books and glitter glue.

Cork also attended a two-day seminar on culture training. There, she was able to learn what is respectful and acceptable in Thailand.

"Growing up, I was always very active in service projects and opportunities that came through either church or my community," Cork said. "I worked at the soup kitchen in my hometown every other week with my family."

Cork moved to Utah last August from Savannah, Georgia. She has a 10-year-old adopted sister from China and believes the eight years she spent living with her will also help her in her volunteer work with people of a different culture.

Searle expects the most rewarding thing about the trip to be developing relationships with people from a different culture.

"I'm a sucker for all things traveling and have been to several countries," Cork said. "I'm beyond excited to volunteer there."

Searle has met Cork once before. "She seems like a very friendly, outgoing and accepting girl that kids will respond well to," Searle said.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

USU students spend spring break serving in San Francisco

By Sadie Hughes

Ten Utah State University students and one faculty member returned on Saturday after spending a week serving poverty-stricken people in San Francisco.

Alternative Breaks, an organization that offers other ways to spend fall or spring break, organized the trip through the Val R. Christensen Service Center. Kate Stephens, the assistant director of the Center for Civic Engagement and Service Learning, was the faculty adviser for the trip. Nine students were chosen to go and were led by Stephens and Aubree Payne, the student director of Alternative Breaks.

“Each trip has a focus,” Stephens said. “This year, we had three trips during spring break.” Urban poverty was the focus for the San Francisco trip. Refugees and immigration were focuses in San Diego. Environmental conservation was the theme of a trip to Moab.

After a 12-hour drive on March 7, the students began their work at organizations including the Glide Foundation, Project Open Hand, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and the San Francisco Marin Food Bank.

“USU students were able to witness urban poverty and actually do something about it,” Stephens said.

According to Stephens, the students interacted with people who were homeless, sick, disabled or elderly. They packaged 18,000 oranges to be distributed throughout the city, served meals to people and sorted food that would be made available for those who needed it.

“What was particularly unique was we were able to stay at a hostel located right in the heart of San Francisco,” Payne said. “This meant we were literally surrounded by those we were serving.”

The students were also able to explore tourist sites in the city including the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.

Karlee Peterson, a student who went on the trip, said she gained a lot of perspective as she served. “The sidewalks were always filled with homeless people sitting or begging for money,” she said.

“At the Glide Foundation, I was serving in a smaller room for elderly and disabled patrons,” Peterson said. “It was really eye-opening and sad to see all these people who would have nowhere else to go, nowhere else to eat if Glide did not exist.”

Stephens has been a faculty adviser for three other trips, but this trip to San Francisco reminded her that “poverty in America is very real.”

“I have learned that it takes a whole community to make amazing things happen,” Payne said. She was impressed by the dedication of the organizations the students worked with in San Francisco. "They were really passionate about their cause and it makes me want to be more like them," Payne said.

According to Payne, several of the students who went on the trip now plan to get more involved in service opportunities at USU. “I believe it opened their eyes to the need of not only San Francisco but Logan as well,” Payne said.

“It was the perfect combination of being able to do something meaningful and having a purpose, but still being able to have an exciting and fun break,” Peterson said.