Students Participate in Annual Service Learning Initiative During Spring Break

For the past five years, Bethune-Cookman University has expanded the minds of students by offering an intensive mission experience in the family islands of The Bahamas during each spring break term. ‘Spring into Service Learning Experience’ provides students at B-CU the opportunity to travel internationally where they gain global perspectives on international missions, vocational goals and create dialogue across cultural boundaries while participating in civic engagement. 

This year, seven students embarked upon a life changing journey, the fifth B-CU Spring into Service Learning Initiative to The Bahamas. The group journeyed to Harbour Island, where they joined the Harbour Island All-School’s celebration of Commonwealth Day. Following the celebration, B-CU class of 1978 alumnus, the Honorable Commissioner Ivan Ferguson, Administrator for the North Eleuthera District, welcomed the students with great enthusiasm. HE was joined by Chief Counselor Terrence Davis Jr. “This trip reaffirmed my passion for social justice and helped me to understand why it is so imperative that I pursue this passion,” said Branay McKnight.  

Throughout the week, students delivered soup to elderly residents on the island, assisted with renovations of the Wesley Methodist Church, volunteered for the church’s Annual Spring Fair fundraiser, read to primary school youth and explored historic sites on the Island of Eleuthera. “I really enjoyed my time in the classroom with the kids […] just being there and speaking with their teachers made me consider seeking a career in education,” Jasmine Sanders shared.

Past experiences to the Bahamas have included: service in rural island clinics, visits to Blackwood (a Haitian refugee community), studying social challenges with The Bahamas’ Ministry of Social Services, working to develop a community center, providing workshops on the importance of higher education with high school students and much more.

To learn more about the Spring into Service Learning Initiative, contact Rev. John Baldwin II, Dean of the Chapel, 386-481-2454 or balwdinj@cookman.edu