(BEAVER FALLS, Pa.)— About one-fifth of Geneva College students will spend their spring break, March 2 to 12, on some kind of college-sponsored trip, which include athletics, music performance, adventure and service trips. The student experiences are transformational in nature and give students the opportunity to put what they are learning in the classroom into practice.
College-sponsored trips are designed to challenge students to move out of their comfort zones and engage with the greater world to enhance personal, spiritual and emotional growth.
The Center for Student Engagement also sends students on four service trips and one adventure trip called Quest Trips. These immersion experiences are wide ranging in both the needs they address for those served and practical, hands-on learning opportunities for students. Trips will help students engage in educational issues in Memphis and New Orleans; community development in Aliquippa, PA; agricultural issues in Americus, GA; and kayaking off the Gulf Coast. Junior Human Services major, Mackenzie Christopherson signed up last year to go on a Quest Trip to New Orleans. She loved serving other people and wanted to see a new part of the country. After a week of learning more about injustices and God’s heart for the poor, she knew she wanted to go back. This year, she is returning to New Orleans, but this time as a student-leader and bringing 14 other students and two staff members with her.
Geneva’s baseball, softball and track and field teams are currently preparing for their annual journey to the southern states for training. This trips signifies the beginning of the spring season as some of the teams will be playing their first games. The baseball team will make stops in Front Royal, VA, and Myrtle Beach for doubleheaders before continuing to Ft. Pierce, FL, for a full schedule of games. The softball team will make Ft. Myers, FL, its spring home for ten days, which will include 12 regular season games beginning on March 5. The track and field team will head to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a week of training and a meet hosted by Coastal Carolina University.
The Genevans acapella student choir will be traveling through the Midwest during their five-day “Soli Deo Gloria” Spring Break Tour. Starting on Friday, March 2, the Genevans will travel to Kidron, Ohio, and Massillon, Ohio, for concerts at local churches. Saturday, March 3, they will sing in Wyoming, MI. Sunday, March 4 and Monday, March 5, will be spent in Lansing, Illinois. On their way back home, they will stop in Northville, Michigan on March 5, and in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on March 6. Between formal performances and traveling, the students sing in public spaces and for churches and Christian schools, and minister to others through God’s Word in song.
These trips are an important part of the Geneva Experience. Randon Willard, Director of the Center for Student Engagement, says, “Every student should do a spring trip at some point at Geneva.”
Van Zanic, Director of Athletics adds, “While the spring trips for the athletic teams serve a purpose to get each team extra work in the sunshine, they also serve as a time for teams to bond together during competition, as well as during several off days.”
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and classroom options, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God’s Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today’s world.
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