By Diana Meakem, Contributor
This J-term, the Honors Guild and Lighthouse are partnering to send more than 30 students on a service-learning trip to the Bahamas.
"(It's) a new experience for a lot of us," said Hannah Chandler, graduate assistant to the Honors Guild. "(We're) excited to be together, excited to spend January in the Bahamas."
Every J-term, the Honors freshmen group goes on an academic trip designed to foster students' personal growth and the cohort's bonding.
Director of Honors Guild Programming Jennifer Moeschberger said this year there will be an increased emphasis on having a "meaningful service component" to the trip.
That's where Lighthouse comes in.
"(Lighthouse has) a great history of training students and sponsors in the way they prepare for and lead trips," Moeschberger said.
A Taylor organization whose mission is to send "servant leaders into the world," Lighthouse is primarily focused on service.
Although the Honors trip will include more service than before, its emphasis remains on learning, in what Lighthouse co-director junior Noelle Smith calls a "unique spin on this Lighthouse team.
The Honors team will attend most group Lighthouse meetings, but the small group time is structured differently. This trip will give students general education science credit for the class Small Island Sustainability, taught by Taylor geology and environmental science professor Michael Guebert. Starting this week, the team is discussing their textbook, "Earthwise," by Calvin B. DeWitt.
During J-term, the freshmen will spend a week in class on campus before spending two weeks in the Bahamas.
While in the Bahamas, they will spend time on the islands of New Providence and San Salvador. This time will allow students to interact with the sustainability concepts they studied on campus in a physical way.
During their week in New Providence, students will serve at the Adventure Learning Centre and Camp, a facility which hosts groups and teaches children science as a means to talk about faith and God's unique design.
Along with children's ministry, the team may prepare a teaching component. In past trips, Moeschberger has found there is "a tension, being aware of particular needs and wanting to respond to that, but at the same time your primary reason is to be there to learn."
She hopes this service component will help bridge that gap.
