Brian Borden

Not all students who take a spring beak trip away from school will be taking a break from work.

Students from Catholic Campus Parish (CCP) will be going on mission trips during spring break week.

This year, the students will be going to Holly Springs, Miss., and Pontotoc, Miss.

A third mission trip was scheduled for San Antonio, Texas, but housing plans fell through and the trip was cancelled.

In Holly Springs, the work the 10 students will do includes fixing, painting and making a fence.

In Pontotoc, the nine students will be doing primarily Habitat for Humanity projects.

Both groups will also be visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., which is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

Sister Joan Marie Brander of CCP said the trips have several goals for the student.

“The purpose of these mission trips is to mingle and see another part of the country, and for the students to experience another culture and broaden their horizons,” Brander said.

Students who go to the missions become more involved upon their return, Brander said.

“Many times those who go on the trips become more involved at CCP. They become leaders here at CCP, they become more involved from their experiences together,” Brander said.

Brander, who attended some of the first missions, said she likes helping put them together.

“It’s one of the things that I enjoy doing the most in my job-planning these spring break mission trips,” Brander said.

Brander said students benefit from going on the missions.

“One of the benefits of it is all the people on these trips usually become very bonded. They develop long lasting relationships here,” Bander said.

Senior Matt Urban, an electrical engineering major, who is going on the Pontotoc mission, said he is returning to Mississippi for a second time.

This will be Urban’s fourth mission trip. He keeps coming back for several reasons.

“I keep coming back, one because my friends do, and it’s nice to do things with people you know,” Urban said.

“Second, I wouldn’t get to see some parts of the country otherwise and seeing things that I would never see otherwise. And third, is the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment I get in helping others,” Urban said.

Senior geography student Sarah Passick was part of a mission group that went to San Antonio., Tex.

During the night, students worked at a homeless shelter and during the day the students renovated housing for people who were making the transition from being homeless to independent living.

“Parts of the trip were difficult, having grown up in the MidWest it was hard to see people living like that. But, it also gave me a good feeling in knowing that I may helped brighten someone’s day,” said Passick.