16 GC students and two faculty leaders departed for their 13-week Study-Service Term in Senegal in early May. The group returned in late July.  Goshen College’s Study Service Term (SST) is a program that each GC student experiences in some capacity, whether through SST alternate courses, hybrid semesters or a 13-week semester studying and serving abroad. SST contributes to GC’s motto, “Culture for Service,” and core value of global citizenship. When the group arrived in Senegal, they strapped luggage to their bus, traveled an hour to Thiès, and stayed in a small dormitory the first few nights.  “I remember getting...

By Sarah Miller • September 15, 2022 • Features

For just over half an hour Wednesday morning, the Umble Center was packed for a convocation detailing the 2018 Senegal SST unit. Goshen College sends groups to Senegal every other summer. This past summer’s Senegal unit was one of the smallest in SST’s history, consisting of only eight students: junior Ethan Lapp, seniors Naomi Peters, Lukas Thompson, Zach Ganger, Spencer Aeschliman, Ben Meyer Reimer and Alex Steiner and 2018 graduate Morgan Yordy. The unit was led by Tom Meyers, director of international education, and his wife, Julie. “The group was a delight to work with,” said Meyers. “Small groups can...

By Siana Emery • October 24, 2018 • News

While many students headed home for the summer, 31 Goshen College students jumped on planes to Dakar, Senegal, and Lima, Peru, last May for a summer abroad. For Tom Meyers, Director of International Education and leader of the Senegal Study-Service Term unit, the eight-student group tied for the smallest group he’d ever led. “It was great,” Meyers said. “A small group can be problematic, but it can also be very helpful. In this case, the group got along great.” Conversely, the Peru unit was composed of 23 students. Anne Buckwalter, Naomi Peters and Spencer Aeschliman, all seniors at Goshen College,...

By Carter Mckay-Epp • September 5, 2018 • Features

Jess Sprunger, a junior art major, finds inspiration in all things, but on her recent S.S.T. experience in Senegal, the bright colors and elaborate fabrics especially inspired her. Sprunger was so inspired she brought many pieces of the beautiful fabric back with her to Goshen. Although Sprunger is still unsure of what she wants to do with the fabrics, she said she may sew them into quilts or bags. Many Senegalese women wore dresses made of similar fabric, Sprunger said. She assumed the women in Senegal expressed themselves through the particular designs and colors of the dresses they wore. Sprunger...

By Sara Albaba • September 20, 2012 • Arts

Four students–one SSTer, one Maple Scholar, one camp counselor and one Ministry Inquiry program participant–share their warm weather experiences. “This summer I had the pleasure of leaving the flat farmland of Indiana behind in favor of the much more dramatic Colorado Rockies as I worked at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. I was a counselor and was able to work with kids from third grade through high school. We went on three hikes every week, to valleys, waterfalls and mountains, including 14,110-foot-high Pikes Peak. We occasionally had to coax campers into making it all the way to the end, but I...

By sarahs29 • September 12, 2012 • Features