Study-Service TermGoshen College’s Study-Service Term is one of the quintessential aspects of the institution. Follow our coverage as the program changes and grows.
Goshen College’s Study-Service Term is one of the quintessential aspects of the institution. Follow our coverage as the program changes and grows.
September 9, 2010
Egypt SST: Making History
Thursday morning, September 2, Goshen College’s first Egypt Study Service Term of 19 students departed for Cairo, Egypt. They arrived on time with no problems. Egypt SST embarked on an adventure that will take them from the Nile River through the desert and to the Red Sea. But members in the group won’t be wandering in the desert, thanks to Tom Meyers’ leadership. Trips include the city of Alexandria, known as the Pearl of the Mediterranean, and a Christian-Egyptian retreat center in the middle of the desert. “There are spectacular things to see on all these trips,” said Meyers....
April 8, 2010
SST groups return to a rainy Goshen
After over three months of living in huge cities, small villages, coastal towns, jungles, the Andes Mountains and beside the Mekong River, students on Study-Service Term (SST) from Cambodia and Peru returned to a gray and rainy Goshen on Wednesday. This was the second Goshen trip to Cambodia and the eleventh to Peru. While the Cambodia group arrived at 2:30 p.m., the Peru group’s flight was late in Lima and didn’t arrive in Goshen until much later in the day because of the missed connections that followed. Kevin Koch, assistant in the international education department, noted that the returning groups...
December 2, 2009
Tenth Peru S.S.T. group returns
Last Tuesday at 5:20 p.m., the fall Peru Study-Service Term (S.S.T.) unit returned to a crowd of eager friends and parents waiting at the south side of the Union. After three months of living in Lima, Peru’s capital city, and various villages in the Andes mountains, coastal towns and the jungle, the group of 11 students was greeted with the rather contrasting Indiana landscape upon their arrival. The group arrived almost two hours later than the original estimate of 3:30 p.m. due to a last minute change of travel plans for one member of the group. Not until the group...
December 2, 2009
After three years, second S.S.T. unit to Cambodia to depart in January
This spring, a group of 21 students will travel to Cambodia for the second ever Study-Service Term (S.S.T.) to this country. Keith Graber-Miller, professor of Bible, Religion and Philosophy, will depart this Sunday with his family. Graber-Miller and his family have led S.S.T. on eight different occasions, including the first unit to Cambodia in 2007. “It feels like going home,” said Graber-Miller. The three year gap between units to Cambodia means that changes to the program are inevitable. Both service locations and host families will be new, and Graber-Miller plans on hiring a local assistant who will help students adjust...
December 2, 2009
How to SST-uff a Suitcase
When packing bags to go on SST, the first thing that comes to many minds is to pack your whole dorm room in one suitcase, even if it means sitting on it in order to zip it. But Goshen College student Hilary Myers thinks differently after losing her luggage on her way to Jamaica for SST in the fall of 2008. Originally, Myers packed everything so it would fit just right in one bag. When she got to the airline counter in Chicago, en route to Jamaica, she was told that her checked bag was a bit over the 50-pound...
September 23, 2009
New director leads domestic Study-Service Term
The planning for the new domestic S.S.T. is well underway. Anayeli Juarez, the recently hired program director for the Latino Studies S.S.T., has begun to schedule trips and service assignments within the Latino community of Northern Indiana. Five students are presently enrolled in the Latino Studies S.S.T. “At first I was worried and disappointed that not many students had signed up,” Juarez said. “However, I realize that it is typical for a new program and we’re ready to start!” This domestic S.S.T. is designed for students who cannot go on international S.S.T. Therefore, scheduling the program has been a problem...
September 16, 2009
Students study Arabic, prep for Egypt S.S.T.
One year from now, 23 students will be spending their semester in Egypt. Right now, they are learning to read and speak the language of that country in Goshen College's first Arabic class taught by Paul Keim, professor of Bible, religion, and various languages. Goshen College is the only Mennonite institution to offer a semester long study program in an Arabic speaking location. The second semester of Elementary Arabic, Arabic 102, will be offered during Spring semester. Keim, who has studied Arabic extensively through graduate studies and travel, says the class is currently working on the alphabet and sounds of...
September 9, 2009
The Eleven Who Flew to Peru
Tearful goodbyes have been kept to a minimum this fall, as Goshen College students only had to say farewell to one SST unit. Eleven students left for Peru on September 1st, and arrived safely later that night. This is the second SST unit lead by Jerrell Ross Richer, associate professor of economics, and his wife Jane, along with their four children Sierra, Naomi, Teresa and Jordan. The Ross-Richer family will stay to lead the next two SST units in Peru as well. According to Tom Meyers, director of International Education, everything has gone smoothly for the group thus far, aside...
April 8, 2009
Peru S.S.T. group arrives: No passport issues this time around
Nerves turned to excitement slightly past 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon as the bus carrying the spring 2009 S.S.T. group from Peru arrived home. "It's just a weird experience," said Luke Woodworth, a sophomore, as he described the group's arrival. "You get off the bus and people are yelling. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I had lots of butterflies." According to Chase Snyder, a junior, "people were even jumping onto the side of the bus." The group started off the Study-Service Term experience a bit haphazardly when Brian Martin and Emily Miller both misplaced their...
March 11, 2009
S.S.T. comes home: domestic unit launches in spring 2010
A new S.S.T. alternative known as the Latino Studies Semester will begin in the spring of 2010, taking place primarily in Goshen. According to Tom Meyers, director of international education, "This program makes it possible for students to have an immersion experience in northern Indiana." Goshen College students currently have two options for international education: the semester-long Study-Service Term or a choice of 12 credits from a cluster of elective courses offered. Although the majority of students choose to participate in S.S.T., a number of students cannot afford to do so due to athletic commitments or life circumstances that prevent...
March 4, 2009
S.S.T. relationship spans three decades
An S.S.T. planning error led Tina Schlabach to stay with what was supposed to be a temporary host family in 1980. Two weeks ago – almost 29 years later – Schlabach introduced her children to that family. Schlabach, now a member of the pastoral team at Waterford Mennonite Church, graduated from Goshen College in 1982. She participated in the spring 1980 Costa Rica Study-Service Term. Schlabach’s S.S.T. group spent the first six weeks in San Jose, the capital city. When it came time for the service portion of the trip, Schlabach and one other S.S.T. student boarded a bus for...
January 28, 2009
Goshen to follow in ‘footsteps of pharaohs:’ Egypt S.S.T. to open in 2010
A new S.S.T. location will begin in Egypt in the fall of 2010. The new location was influenced by President Jim Brenneman, who has spent extended time in the Middle East. According to Brenneman, it is time for Goshen College students to experience the Middle East as well. Brenneman and the President’s Circle, a group of donors, traveled to Egypt on a study tour in February. Following the trip, Jim Caskey, director of major gifts, and Tom Meyers, director of international education, traveled to Cairo to talk with people involved with Mennonite Central Committee, education organizations and other contacts from...
January 14, 2009
Spring SST students settle in Peru, finally!
For the second year, Goshen College students have escaped the snowy winter months of Indiana for the summer months of Peru. On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 18 Goshen College students departed for Peru to participate in Study-Service Term, a 13-week program unique to GC in which students study in the country’s capital city for six weeks before dispersing into different locations for six weeks of service work. This is the second year Peru has been offered as a year-round program. Passport troubles seemed to plague this particular group from the moment the bus pulled out on Tuesday morning. Emily Miller, a...