Mariah Allen ’26, a political science and African American studies major, attended a faith-based service trip through Campus Ministry’s Ignacio Companions program trip to Montgomery, Alabama, over spring break. She said the trip was life-changing. “I have much deeper insights and I learned we are all human,” said Allen. “We must hold on to that humanity and what it means to really love one another.”
Allen was among eight students and three staff members who traveled to Montgomery to journey to the South to learn about the civil rights movement. Students and staff participated in service projects, attended justice dinners with active members in the civil rights movement, and visited museums. Allen, a black woman, said this experience was the first time in her life that she wasn’t a minority. “I think it’s difficult to feel empowered when you look around, and nobody looks like you, and everybody talks about you as being the only, or the handful,” said Allen. “But when I was in Alabama, it was one of the few times in my life that I wasn’t a minority in the classroom … I have never seen so many black teachers, or black students. This experience made me think about how I see the world, how I see others, and how I see myself.”
Susan Kadota, campus minister for Global Local Faith-Based Service who oversees the IC program, said that IC trips focus on three core values: community, solidarity, faith/justice. “IC trips invite students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and have a different experience of their own reality.” Students are challenged to open themselves to the reality of the people they encounter and find God in all places and things.
Kadota led a group of students to Nogales, Arizona. This trip focused on the reality of life in the borderlands; students spent time on the U.S.-Mexico border and heard stories about migration and life along the Nogales border region. “People share their stories,” said Kadota. “I think the human side and perspective is so important for the students to take away.” A third group of students and staff traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, and served students with special needs, pregnant teens, and youth effected by HIV. In total 24 students and six staff members, attended IC trips.
Allen said this trip changed her life. It affirmed her vocation to become a civil rights attorney. “I walked away with a greater sense of hope, and greater sense of mindfulness,” said Allen. “I recognize there are other people outside my world, on the other side of the country, that exist. These people are deserving of my time, my thoughts, and my consideration.”
