29 Bethel students are opting for several different types of spring break experiences this year: Sophomore Katie Ratering isn’t going on a typical spring break trip. She’s leaving for Haiti on Friday for work rather than sun. She’ll travel alone to Florida before meeting up with other missionaries from NorthWest Haiti Christian Mission in Haiti. Working with orphans, distributing food and helping with efforts to rebuild in the earthquake-torn country, Ratering will spend much of her spring break in the service of others. She’ll return March 8. Though she admitted that it will be a tiring trip, she’s looking forward to it. “It will be good,” she said. Senior Matthew Monhan is also on a different spring break route. Headed to Saint Gregory’s Abbey, a monestary in Three Rivers, Mich., Monahan said he wants to spend focused time with God during the next week. “I’m in a time in my life when I’m starting to really focus on the future and I need to hear from the Lord to know what that future is,” he said. Seniors Matty Sommer, Bret Stevens, and Lydia Chapman will head to central Pennsylvania for a different kind of missions work. Helping a friend’s mother paint her new kitchen, Sommer joked that they’ll likely move the woman’s refrigerator, which has become a tradition. “I really can’t wait to go,” added Chapman. Freshman Ashlee Stanley, rather than sun and fun, will focus on school work. She will fulfill requirements for her studies in elementary education. Different education courses require ten or more hours of classroom observation, giving future teachers a taste of what they will experience in the field. Stanley is hoping to observe teachers who are already doing what she hopes to someday do. Senior Chelsie Lynn Bennett’s spring break won’t offer much relaxation either. Four doctor appointments and three meetings with a wedding planner await Bennett. On top of that, she’ll be memorizing the Old English introduction to “Canterbury Tales.” “It won’t be relaxing,” she said. And while she lives close to the beach in Port Huron, Mich., a day at the beach in a swimsuit would likely conclude with hypothermia and a trip to the hospital, she lamented. Instead, she said, she’ll settle for a busy week.
Print
