Saint John’s group spends spring break on duty – CSB/SJU

Memories of spring break just a week ago will linger in the minds of many students for a long time. But while cliched destinations include Cancun, Miami or South Padre Island to party and relax, a group of 11 men from Saint John University chose to spend their week away from school in search of a other kind of satisfaction.

For most of the seven-day journey of service and immersion, they volunteered their time – pruning trees in a former Benedictine monastery, painting and doing maintenance work in a Catholic elementary school, and playing soccer with special olympians.

Certainly it was not all benevolence and altruism. Their destination has been Nassau in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

“To be quite frank, the Bahamas during spring break? I’m like, ‘This sounds like an amazing experience,’” said Sean Fisher, a junior environmental studies student from Pueblo, Colorado. “For it to be centered in service and faith, to strengthen our bond and be in community with the people of the Bahamas, I feel truly blessed to have been able to have this experience.”

One that not everyone can understand.

“People ask, ‘Did you go to the beach? Did you go crazy every night?’” Fisher said. “I’m like, ‘Mmmm, no. We went to help. But honestly, I would so much rather take this trip than go somewhere and be a crazy, drunk tourist. It was more fulfilling. »

The group, supported by SJU Campus Ministry and led by SJU Chaplain, Fr. Nick Kleespie, BSF; Pat Martin, assistant director of Campus Ministry; and Mike Connolly, SJU Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students, left March 5 and returned a week later. It was only the second time such a group had traveled to Nassau, where Benedictine monks and Sisters of St. John’s and St. Benedict made a connection decades ago. Several hundred Bahamians have since attended CSB and SJU, which currently numbers 61 undergraduate students from the islands.

One of them is Antonio Thompson, a freshman in physics and pre-engineering, who joined the trip and acted as a host of sorts, proudly showing his peers where he went to high school as well. than the best places to eat.

“Honestly, it was a beautiful thing overall and an amazing experience,” Thompson said. “Coming back with this group made me feel passionate and proud to be Bahamian. It was great to be able to show the hospitality of our people and the beauty of the sun and the waters, the greenery, the nature. And I I also found a change in myself. I found happiness back in my country and saw it from their point of view. It completely changed my outlook. It made me miss the Bahamas much more than I did. at the beginning.

Because so many Bahamians attend CSB and SJU, sophomore Wes Kirchner — who was born and raised in Minnesota — wanted to learn about their culture.

“I wanted to see their house,” said Kirchner, a political science student. “Not just resorts and Paradise Island. We wanted to be in the middle of Nassau and work with kids in elementary and high schools and learn more about their lives.

To participate, students could register and had to go through an application and interview process to be selected. In addition to Fisher, Thompson and Kirchner, others who went included: Frank Doyle (junior, exercise health and science), Ernesto Lazaro (sophomore, global business leadership/economics), Evan Mattson (junior, political science) , Jesus Moreno Gutierrez (first year, biochemistry/biology), Gilbert Perez (junior, theology), Elias Wehr (first year, global business management), Diego Argueta Melendez (first year, global business management) and Emanuel Popoca Santana (first year , accounting). Pat Martin, associate director of the Saint John campus ministry, and Mike Connolly, SJU vice president for student development and dean of students, rounded out the traveling party.

“Their willingness to give up a week to participate in this just makes me feel like our future is bright,” Connolly said. “Getting young men to commit like that is great.”

And the benefits went beyond the simple goodwill of cleaning church grounds or painting a school shelter.

“Most departments can form a service group, so why campus ministry? Martin asked, rhetorically. “We saw throughout the week how precious it was when the guys came together at the end of the day to reflect and pray. The students who participated gave their all. They were looking for themselves and looking for answers to deeper questions.

They attended Sunday Mass at St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church, and several students said the Mass Kleespie celebrated on the evening of March 10 in a half-built chapel over a century ago was perhaps be the highlight of the trip.

“These students are leaders in our campus community and are filled with faith,” Kleespie said. “Traveling to the Bahamas with a group of young men allows them to form lasting relationships with each other, opens them to new cultures and ways of interacting, and calls them to a life of great service.”

The group met with Bishop Patrick Pinder, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Nassau, and attended a Bahamian Alumni Association reception with Barry Griffin ’09, who is now Vice President of the Bahamas Senate and took them visit the parliament buildings. .

And, of course, there was a trip to Paradise Island, where the Johnnies got to spend time on the beach and in the surf.

“Our trip wouldn’t have been a success if the guys hadn’t spent time at the beach,” Connolly said. “Floating in 70 degree water was awesome.”

But Fisher’s vivid memory is when the whole group, exhausted from a day’s work but comfortable enough in the presence of classmates – some of whom they barely knew until the trip, fell asleep as he was traveling in a van en route to hang out with the Special Olympians.

Martin said the campus ministry plans to send another group to the Bahamas next year. The first tour was in 2020 and last year was canceled due to COVID-19.

Thompson wants to do a similar trip to Mexico. Others have been tempted to continue their service through the Benedictine Volunteer Corps. And the connection with the Bahamas will remain strong thanks to all these students who come to Collegeville and St. Joseph.

“There will be other opportunities to travel,” Fisher said. “But this journey was a beautiful, spiritual and holy thing. In this sense, it can never be duplicated.