MSU President’s Column for Traill County Tribune
December 5, 2015
CORE Spring Break Trip will provide invaluable experiences for MSU students
As university students across America set out to find adventure during spring break in March, Mayville State University students and faculty will be looking forward to adventure and then-some as they hop on a bus and travel across the country to Courtland, Va. and Washington, D.C., stopping along the way to help service organizations in Illinois and Indiana. The trip, which will personify Mayville State’s mission in action will take place March 11-20, 2016.
The trip is being made available to students across campus, regardless of their academic interest area. Mayville State University works to promote positive Community building, Outreach, Relationships, and Experiences for our students. Hence, the CORE Spring Break Trip. Students will have an opportunity to extend their community connections, provide outreach services to people and organizations in need of assistance, build social and professional relationships, and take part in an overall experience that will build personal and professional skills.
When they get to Courtland, the Mayville State group will be greeted by Mayville State alum William Melbye, a principal at Riverdale Elementary School, one of seven schools in the Southhampton County Public School District. Will is one of many Mayville State alumni who “give back” to their alma mater for the benefit of programs and students.
While in Courtland, the MSU students will participate in personal and pre-professional development activities within the community and within the schools, depending on the students’ academic interest areas. Students in business, psychology, sociology, and other majors will be working with the MSU faculty to arrange for an experience that provides personalized opportunities to learn about special topics of interest through interaction with people and/or businesses and organizations in the Courtland area.
For example, business majors might choose to inquire about how businesses with close proximity to a coast might operate. In Southhampton County Public Schools, MSU education majors will work closely with teachers, observing, assisting, and teaching as they bring STEM activities to the schools. Faculty will provide students with service learning or internship credit if students wish to earn university credit based on the experiences of the trip.
Participants will work with Courtland service organizations to provide some type of support to assist the organization each evening while there.
The Mayville State group will head for Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, March 16, where there will be another opportunity to serve a community organization. As “luck” would have it, the MSU students and faculty will be on the National Mall for sightseeing on St. Patrick’s Day. Certainly, this is an opportunity for our students to be a part of some wonderful cultural events in our nation’s capital.
Mayville State University, the School of Personal Service, is well-known for community outreach in and around the Mayville Area and region. The CORE Spring Break Trip, with its mix of service projects, teaching and learning experiences, and sight-seeing, will allow our students and faculty to extend that reputation well beyond Mayville, while students develop a better understanding of the greater community in which we all live.
Mayville State University students will be busy during the upcoming holidays, reaching out to family and friends and seeking donations to sponsor their work and learning on this service trip. If you’re interested in helping to sponsor these students with a tax-deductible gift to support student trip costs, you may send your gift to the Mayville State University Foundation, with the words CORE Trip on the memo line of the check. You may also make a gift online at www.mayvillestate.edu/COREtrip. Thank you for considering a contribution to this group of dedicated learners and service representatives of Mayville State University.
For more information about the CORE Spring Break Trip, you may contact Dr. Andi Dulski-Bucholz at andrea.dulskibucholz@mayvillestate.edu or Dr. Brittany Hagen at brittany.hagen.2@mayvillestate.edu.