The
formula is clear: go to college, go on a mission trip, find yourself.
Matthew
McGinnity returned to school as a 23-year-old junior. Matthew Romano finally
found something he cared about. Jacqueline Keeley turned down an acceptance
letter to graduate school.
So has humanity
finally stumbled upon a proven recipe to the time-old question of
self-discovery?
“It may be
cliché to 'find oneself’ through a mission trip,” said Tiffany DiNome, director
of the Iona in Mission program at Iona College. “But it is a cliché because it
has happened so often. And there is validity behind that. All clichés start
somewhere meaningful.”
It is estimated
that more than 1.5 million Christian-Americans take part in such mission trips
annually, with an estimated $2 billion spent annually as well, according to Dr.
Robert Priest, a missiology professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School,
in a 2008 article in Missiology journal.
Business is
booming for short-term mission trips. And while the attraction may lie in the transfixing
testimonials of those whose lives were drastically changed, the reality is that
each student emerges from the experience differently.
DiNome states
that such trips are invaluable for students to gain a new perspective both on
how others live and to see oneself in an entirely new light. It isn't until one
is immersed in the culture, stripped of creature comforts, when one realizes
how simply others live without question. And this realization, DiNome says,
will never be clichéd.
"It doesn't
have to be a life-changing event,” said college sophomore Romano, “Sure, you
could learn a lot about yourself. But I think it is the little things, the
minute details that you see that matter most."
As an undecided
sophomore, he scrambled to declare a major. He had no idea of what he wanted to
do—so he chose criminal justice, a ‘secure job path.’ Then, he went to New
Orleans.
Romano had found
his passion, and it lay right in front of his eyes. As he worked tirelessly to
finish a simple brick walkway at Trinity Lutheran Church, surrounded by the
still-devastated Ninth Ward, he learned more about himself than ever before.
Time, he said,
is the most valuable thing one can give. Now a public relations major, he hopes
to represent a nonprofit organization in the future.
These short-term
mission trips often do not last for more than two weeks. The activities of
students are typically mapped out, hour by hour. Yet when placed within these
thorough schedules, students are directly faced with tragedy—how they respond
is up to them.
Jacqueline Keeley, a senior at Iona College,
chose to attend a mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia, on an emotional whim. Her
best friend was leading the trip, she had nothing else to do over spring break,
and a part of her knew something was missing from her life.
“I was always one of those people who thought
it was a cliché,” said Keeley, “I just thought I was going to be helping to
change the lives of the people of Cochabamba, but they were the ones who
changed me.”
Perhaps fitting
the cliché all too well, Keeley has remodeled her life entirely based upon
these precious moments. She will be returning to Bolivia after Christmas to
work at El Centro de Infantil, a preschool, to teach. She will be able to
reunite with the children that loved her without question—that taught her to
love unconditionally.
While mission
trips can easily be dismissed as clichéd opportunities for students to discover
themselves, the intentions behind them can be nothing but pure. Matthew McGinnity,
who travelled to Haiti his senior year of high school, employs his haunting
memories of the citizens living in humble poverty there to appreciate what he
has.
A resounding
consensus confirms that students attending mission trips do emerge with something
in common. It may not be a perfectly packaged identity or purpose, but it is
newfound appreciation for life. It’s no wonder why they are so popular.
"My experience gave me more than I could ever imagine.
I want to succeed, I want to pursue my
dreams," says McGinnity, "I just want to deserve
it."
-By
Mackenzie Mennucci
