InterVarsity members took on the theme of helping others for their Spring Break this year and headed west to the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Aimee Spahr, the South Dakota State Chapter undergrad, said the group went with the intent to “listen, learn and love the Lakota people.”

This wasn’t the group’s first trip to the reservation as InterVarsity has been going to Pine Ridge over the spring break holiday for the last 15 of the 30 years that they have been a part of SDSU.

Spahr said the most fulfilling part of their trip was spending two days with the children who lived at the Pine Ridge School during the week. InterVarsity members played games and performed skits with the kids.

They also visited He Sapa New Life Church in Rapid City and made stops at several sites including Wounded Knee, Bette’s Kitchen, Oglala Lakota Community College, and Higher Ground in Pine Ridge Village.

“It was great for us to be able to support and work alongside something that is already established in Pine Ridge and that will continue to serve the children year-round,” said Spahr.

SDSU’s InterVarsity group belongs to the larger, national organization InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. This organization is a campus ministry that establishes and advances witnessing communities of students and faculty.