A world of memories

By Cara Warfield

Deep in the jungles of brazil, near the city of Menaus, 11 Anderson University students, a faculty leader, and their guide paddle along a tributary of the great Amazon, nervously eyeing the alligators resting along the river’s banks.

Besides their apparent fear of alligators and their fatigue following the day’s travels, the students inside the small canoes seem to have little in common. Some are pre-med majors, while others are studying business. A couple of travelers are international students, having come to AU from completely different cultures and perspectives. Nevertheless, these students find themselves traveling together down a river in Brazil because they share the common desires for adventure, cultural experiences, and a greater understanding of the complex ecosystem in Brazil.

More importantly, the group has come together like a family as they face challenges of hunting alligators and trying to function without the conveniences of electricity and running water. And they remain undaunted even at the guide’s announcement that they’ll be fishing for their dinner and the specialty of the day is piranha.

“We probably caught 12 to 13 piranha that day,” recalls Willi Kant, director of Tri-S and the faculty leader fishing alongside his students during the 2004 spring break trip (pictured above in the boat with students). “We went over to a small village nearby where a couple of ladies prepared them for us to eat. Of course, piranhas are mostly bone, so nobody got very full. But it certainly was an experience.”

Believe it or not, it’s experiences like this that arouse the adventurous side of many AU students looking to travel to unfamiliar places, study new cultures, serve others, and learn a little about themselves along the way. Such opportunities are made possible through AU’s Tri-S program.

This year Tri-S celebrates its 40th anniversary, and the experiences and friendships are endless. More than 17,000 students and faculty have participated in Tri-S since the program began in 1964, and each person returned home with unique lessons learned and stories to tell.

Established under the administration and enthusiasm of President Robert Reardon, Tri-S began during the same time period and with similar ideals as the Peace Corps. It was created largely out of the aspirations and good will of a student body wanting to do something — anything — that would truly make a difference.

“The students tried to be peacemakers in a violent society,” explains Norman Beard, then-dean of students and the first director of Tri-S. “We wanted to involve them with local and worldwide needs, and they took to that with abandon.”

Beard became the liaison between people and places around the world needing help and the AU students looking to be of service. “It was just amazing to see the students’ courageousness and willingness to tackle any problem,” recalls Beard. “The motto of Tri-S became ‘infinitely flexible.’ Our students proved that they could not only adapt, but thrive in any situation.”

Originally dubbed Student Summer Service, Tri-S began its legacy with a modest 34 students participating in 16 service projects in the United States and six foreign countries. Some taught camping skills to the Navajo in New Mexico while others assisted in building a poultry farm in the slums of Peru. One student even traveled to the Artic Circle to help build a bicycle path across the tundra.

These students returned fatigued and perhaps a little thinner, but they all reported personal fulfillment and reward that come with serving others. “I do not feel I have done something significant nearly as much as I feel something significant has been done to me,” reported a Tri-S participant to the AC News in December 1965.

Such favorable responses aroused interest in other students and the Tri-S program grew. In fact, a major obstacle for the Tri-S pioneers was that more volunteers existed than available projects or funding.

“There is just something about the stress and struggle of identifying with the people you are helping,” explains Beard. “Why students would pay to work and then sleep on dirt floors is totally irrational. There just seems to be a desire in the human heart that says ‘I want to do something. I want to help.’”

These first trips were financed largely through the gifts of alumni and friends, and a $5,000 offering made by students and faculty. Reardon later secured a $1,000 grant that allowed Beard to travel overseas and establish places and projects for future Tri-S groups.

In comparison to its first years, Tri-S has expanded exponentially, working with 16,000 ambassadors and leading eager students to more than 100 countries. This year, more than 550 students will travel with Tri-S, becoming part of its ever-growing legacy that has brought goodwill, peace, and service to some of the most underprivileged parts of the world.

The types of trips available have also expanded, allowing students to choose the experiences that best fit their personal desires and abilities. Many participate in work camps, putting their manual labor to use in building churches and schools, painting, or constructing chicken coops. Others prefer the personal contact found working in clinics and hospitals, elementary schools, or with Mother Theresa’s Sisters of Charity in Calcutta. Finally, there are students who desire a more cultural experience and focus their trip on the language, history, geography, and traditions of a country or people.

But despite the growth and many changes that have taken place within the program, the fundamentals of Tri-S remain the same. Its mission stays focused on service and learning. Its motto continues to credit its travelers with infinite flexibility. And students still take to the challenge of serving others with abandon.

“I’ve found that all the students who have gone with Tri-S have really had a passion for working and serving,” says Kant. “Work camps are the most popular programs, but, really, students could be doing anything, and they’ll put their whole hearts into it.”

Having traveled with Tri-S himself as an AU School of Theology student, Kant can attest to the rewards serving others brings and the life-changing experiences Tri-S provides. He and his wife, Esther, then an undergraduate student at AU, went to Brazil on a Tri-S trip in 1977. “We later received an invitation from the church in Brazil that we worked with,” Kant explains. “We spent the next eight years working as missionaries in Brazil. And what was really amazing was that more than half of that Tri-S group also went into missionary service.”

Of course, the impact of each trip on each student and faculty member varies. Many students feel called into missionary service, often returning to the same country, while others have already sensed the call to be missionaries and a Tri-S trip becomes an affirming experience. Some students see their experiences as a stepping-stone in their faith journey, uniting with other Christians and confronting the world’s harsh realities. And of course, there are those who simply like to travel, and Tri-S is an opportunity to do just that.

Dr. Fred Shively, a professor in the Religious Studies Department, has led 56 Tri-S trips, traveling repeatedly to Costa Rica, Mexico, Italy, Greece, Japan, Uganda, Egypt, Peru, and Venezuela.

“I didn’t know in the beginning that I would have taken so many groups. It just seemed to happen a year at a time,” he says. “Tri-S has enabled me to get to know college students in a way that is not true in the classroom.”

Like any world traveler, Shively could talk endlessly about his experiences –– like the time he climbed Mt. Fuji, or the time his group visited the world’s largest church congregation in Korea (600,000 members). But he does admit that his biggest concern during the travels is the students’ safety. Fortunately, he hasn’t had to deal with anything too serious aside from taking a student to get a few stitches in Costa Rica and clubbing to death a poisonous snake in Tanzania.

Each trip brings new obstacles and challenges. Yet, Shively is continually amazed by the positive attitudes of the people in other countries and the impact each trip has on the students.

“I am moved by the plight of the people, the poverty, the great desire to live life to the fullest, and the wonderful hospitality we are always given,” he says. “How can anyone go to a developing nation, work with the poor, worship with them, come to know them personally, and not be changed by that experience? I am always amazed by the willingness of students to live very uncomfortably, eat unfamiliar foods, face many different challenges, and work very hard –– all with grace, a smile, and a readiness to laugh.”

For Christy Clodfelder BA ’03, her Tri-S trip to Costa Rica sparked the desire to teach overseas. “I had been on several Tri-S trips before,” she explains. “I used a Tri-S trip to start out my summer study abroad experiences in Costa Rica. I studied Spanish at a language school for a little over two months as part of my Spanish minor. The experience was so life-changing for me that I wanted to get back to Costa Rica as soon as possible. I decided to student teach abroad and experience firsthand what it is like to teach overseas.”

Other students are a little less taken with the surroundings in which they find themselves. Trips to more primitive areas with pit toilets, no running water (or at least no hot water), mosquito nets, and dirt floors on which to eat and sleep challenge even the most spirited travelers, leaving them emotionally drained and more than a little homesick.

“There’s a lot of learning that takes place in living in another culture,” Kant explains. “Some students are pushed to their limits — eating different food, bugs everywhere, no hot water. We had a group that was up half the night trying to catch a rat that was in their room. Things like this can be a challenge for some students. That’s a learning experience in itself.”

Since the late 1960s, Tri-S has been offered as a class in which students can earn up to three credit hours.

“The things students learn in the classroom are taken to a new level when they witness these things actually taking place,” says Kant. “When we go to Mother Theresa’s mission, there is intense poverty, women offering their children to you, people living in tents and aggressively begging you to give them something. You can sit down and talk about those things and look at statistics, but to experience it puts everything in a different context.”

Increasingly, Tri-S is working with different departments to develop programs relevant to various majors. Biology and pre-med students travel to Honduras, ecology students study in Costa Rica, business majors learn firsthand about global business, and music ensembles tour throughout Europe.

The School of Nursing has also taken advantage of the Tri-S experience, requiring its majors to complete 60 hours of nursing care on a group or individual trip. Nursing students have traveled to places such as Calcutta, South Korea, Uganda, Brazil, and Honduras.

“What the students actually do depends on the site,” says Andrea Koepke, director of the School of Nursing and a frequent Tri-S traveler. “Sometimes it’s very hands-on caring — giving injections and taking blood pressure — and other times it’s more community focused. These trips allow us to look at health not only as a national and international issue but also from a community perspective.”

These experiences provide insights into the medical practices of different cultures and give students the perception of what it’s like to be the minority. “Students come out of these trips with a different world view,” says Koepke. “Our world is becoming so heterogeneous and it’s critical that our students be able to deliver nursing care in a culturally sensitive manner.”

The School of Education also encourages students to travel with Tri-S, and even arranges its own trips under the leadership of Nancy Moller, professor of multicultural education.

“There are a lot of benefits to experiencing another culture,” she says. “Many of our teachers will have immigrants in their class and their experiences help them understand what it’s like to be a minority and they are then able to empathize.”

Erin Coffman BA ’04 completed her student teaching overseas, working with students from all over the world at the Kilmore International School in Australia.

“I not only learned how to work with ESL [English as a Second Language] students, but I also got to work with teachers who had taught all over the world,” she says. “It’s great to see how other schools and other cultures deal with education.” Professional contacts, cultural understanding, spiritual growth, lasting friendships, and experiences to be cherished for a lifetime. The initial intent of Tri-S was simply to serve others in the spirit of Christ. AU students have helped build hundreds of churches and schools, cared for the sick and destitute, tutored children of all nationalities and backgrounds, and performed many other invaluable services for people whose gratitude and hospitality make it all worthwhile.

“Students frequently participate in Tri-S because they want to give something of themselves,” says Kant. “But what’s interesting is that they always come back with the comment that they received so much more than they gave. Just the smiles and words of gratitude have a tremendous impact.”