YSU students learn about service while visiting Haiti

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A group of Youngstown State University students participated in a variety of service activities in Haiti earlier this semester as part of a course on service learning and civic engagement.

Participating students were Caitlyn Lehner, senior, nursing; Danielle Dutton, senior, nursing; A’ja Glover, junior, public health; Brandon Mitchell, junior, criminal justice; Troyia Woods, junior, special education; and Sidney Snyder, senior, nursing.

“The experience was great for the students and provided insight into the importance of service,” said Sherri Harper Woods, who is teaching the Service Learning and Community Engagement course this semester at the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services.

Students worked at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in St. Louis, Haiti, March 7-15. The mission consists of an orphanage, an orphanage for special-needs children, a school, an elderly care home, a clinic and a birthing center.

Students engaged in six hours of service per day. Among the activities: health and hygiene workshops for local mothers whose children are severely underweight; story-time for students at the orphanage and after school programs; self-defense courses for youths in the orphanage; pedicures and shaves for residents in the elderly center; Meals on Heels, walking to deliver meals to local residents; field trip to the beach with special-needs youths; yoga classes for orphanage staff; and Zumba for youths at the orphanage.

Woods said students also provided services to women at brothel houses in the community and visited inmates at the local prison.

Supplies for the trip were provided through the James and Coralie Centofanti Center for the Health and Welfare of Vulnerable Populations.