This past summer, students travelled to Kentucky for their cross-cultural experience. While in Kentucky, students worked within the community, met families, and participated in daily devotions.
Wayne Frey
Wayne Frey, senior Psychology and Criminal Justice major. Photo taken by Sara Poiry.
“Working at the food drive there, in Harlan County, which is where we were mainly located, it’s one of the poorer counties on the Eastern Seaboard. Doing that food drive and listening to people’s stories was really beneficial to me. To just kind of learn from their experiences and how they can teach me how I can help them.”
“My favorite memory was probably helping out this one man, Ronnie, he was unemployed at the time and has special needs. Him and his mom lost water to their house and he had been collecting aluminum cans for the past two years…We went there to help him load all of them up and took them to the recycling center. This helped him get the money that he needed. We didn’t find out till after the trip, but he was able to get running water in his house again.”
Justin Dorsey
Justin Dorsey, senior Finance and Accounting major. Photo taken by Sara Poiry.
“Every morning we would start off with devotions, and one morning I led it. I had been listening to a country song, “He’s My Boy”…It’s about this this guy who starts dating this girl and she has a son, and he’s like “He might not be my son but he’s my boy”…The words of that song stuck out to me…We act out against God, but yet every single day God chooses us…Preparing for that devotional just kind of hit me.”
“If you can’t afford a big trip or something like that there’s no reason to be missing out. This cultural experience you still get to do a lot of really cool stuff, experience different people, and make connections like you would get to do on a bigger trip.”
Marissa Hall
Marissa Hall, senior English major. Photo taken by Sara Poiry.
“It was good to see that there are still so many communities out there that deeply care about each other like… It’s just crazy to me that communities still have those relationships. It just kind of proves that there are still good people out there. There’s so many people that dedicate their life to helping others when they do not get paid and it’s a full-time job.”
“Half of our group got to build a deck and a front porch for a lady. She was super gracious about it. She obviously couldn’t do it by herself, and it was a hard day’s work, but it was so worth it.”
