Villanova In South Africa

A group of 20 Villanova students have embarked on a journey of a lifetime headed to Cape Town, South Africa on a mission trip over winter break. This is their story, share it with everyone you know.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Getting to Know You...Getting to Know All About You...

These are the 20 members of our group:

Chris P: 5th year senior from New Milford, NJ. Head RA of Good
Counsel, Chris has been to South Carolina, Mexico, and Cambodia for
break trips. In his spare time he likes to run, watch movies, and play
soccer. He wants to thank everyone who is supporting the South African
mission trip, please keep us in your prayers!

Dominique D: She is a senior nursing major who is rooted in her faith and obviously committed to social justice. She is extremely dedicated to all that she does and always has a smile on her face!

Katrine Herrick: She is a junior Management major, Peace and Justice concentration, Spanish minor. She loves service activities especially St. Francis Inn Soup Kitchen and Saturday Habitat for Humanity! In her spare time she likes to go on other service experiences and loves to play field hockey or any competitive but fun sport. She wants to become a social worker and reserach the aspects of poverty and then go into government and work on policy changes that would stop the cycle of poverty.

Mike C: He is a Junior Human Services Major with minors in Psychology, Sociology, and Peace and Justice Studies. He is from Drexel Hill PA,where his Mom and Dad (class of 1973) reside. He is a Philly kid at heart and enjoys the Phillies and Eagles among all other things Philly. His music collection ranges from Frank Sinatra to Eminem and ihe can't stop listening to the Dave Matthews Band, whom he has seen in concert a total of 16 times. His passion lies with Habitat for Humanity and serving others in the community through after care programs and by spreading awareness. He loves spending my summers with his family on the beautiful beaches of Wildwood Crest NJ. He was taught in High School to experience something, reflect on that experience, and then act on it. His hope for this trip is that he accomplishes all three of those goals and in particular the last one! He is going to South Africa in hopes of educating himself with a first hand experience so that he may return to the United States and better educate others on how we can take action as a collective whole.

Allie W: She is a junior Math and Economics major. She is also extremely involved on campus, some of her organizations include being an RA, being a fourth hour facilitator for the Service Learning Community and being in blue key. If you need someone with a good attitude, Allie is your girl!

Natalie J: She is involved in the Sophomore service learning community, Villanovans for Life, and LASO (Latin American Student Organization). She is originally from Damascus, Maryland; moved to Monterrey, Mexico when 7 years old, lived there for four years, then in Quito, Ecuador for three years, and then in Vancouver, Canada for four years. Now living in Panama. Her interests are traveling, volunteering, photography, world music, foreign languages, horseback riding, watching movies, reading.

Laura A: She is a sophomore with an Economics and International Business doulbe major. She is from Middletwon Pennsylvania. Her interests are running, traveling, reading, penn state football, tennis, basketball, sports in general. Her activities include slc(service learning community), rays of sunshine, special olympics, college republicans.

Becky Z: She is from Baltimore, and is involved in APO (Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity) and faceAIDS at Villanova. She is a Psych major and an Education and Cognitive Science double minor. This is her fifth service trip but only her first one with Villanova. She works as a camp counselor over the summers and loves doing anything that involves working with kids. She loves to read and is a little obsessed with Friends and Grey's Anatomy

Jackie R: She lives in Ridgefield, CT and is a sophomore Nursing major. She is in Navy ROTC and when she gets comissioned into the Navy she really wants to go into pediatrics. Once a week she tutors at an inner city Philly school and also does the Color Guard details at football, bball, etc. games. She loves to hang out with her friends and her dog Finny. Her favorite sport is lacrosse and Halloween is her favorite holiday!

Katelyn C: She is a senior nursing major from the Landsdowne PA. She enjoys all music but especially country and is a big fan of General Hospital!

Catie F: She is from Larchmont, NY, and is the oldest of three children. She is a senior Political Science major. She serves as the Vice President of Fraternity Development in my Sorority, is a Eucharistic Minister, she has been on the Balloon Day Committee, New Student Orientation (Administrative Assistant), intramurals, she went to Guatemala on a break trip, and she is a SPO volunteer. She enjoys reading, the beach, watching movies, being with friends and family, dunkin donuts, laughing, and traveling.

Matt C.: He is a freshman Finance and Economics major. This is his second trip with Villanova, his first being this fall to Mobile Alabama. He is involved in club tennis, intramurals, SGA and Habitat for Humanity.

Matt S: He is from Long Island. He is in ROTC with the intention of getting a Special Warfare billet (SEALs). He is a physics major and medicine really interests him. He likes to have fun and most importantly, work hard. He can't wait to go to South Africa!

Jarrod W: He is from Hillsborough, NJ, and he enjoys playing guitar, piano, baseball, basketball, and soccer. He is a Philosophy major and is pre-law and is a Red Sox fan!

Ben: He is a History major with a minor in naval science. He is in NROTC, Beta Theta Pi (fraternity), Blue Key; I'm from Connecticut; I like sailing, skiing, scuba diving, and history.

Ashley B: She is from Cape Cod, MA, and has 5 brothers. She loves sports, especially watching football. She also plays golf. She LOVES food. All
kinds and eats all the time. She likes listening to music to make her relax
and her favorite kind is R&B. She loves being with friends and learning
about people. And she loves traveling to new places

Melissa A: She is a junior nursing major from Washington D.C. She likes many different types of music and one of her favorite shows is Grey's Anatomy.

Annie Tompkins: She is a graduate student at Villanova and is in the secondary school counseling program. In 2004-2005 she was an Augustinian volunteer and before that she went to Kansas State University (also the wildcats!). Annie enjoys people, conversations at Starbucks and time with God and is super excited for the opportunity to go to South Africa!!!

Jess C: She is originally from plymouth meeting Pennsylvania. She is a Human Services and Sociology double major, and a psychology and spanish minor. She loves art, music of all forms, and photography and such.

Sami G: She is a Senior Communication Major with Philosophy and Aricana Studies Minors. She is from San Diego, CA and is involved in Blue Key, Diversity Peer Educators. She is also a head RA and has been dancing since she was 4. she also has a dog named Taro :)

We're Going to South Africa!


A group of 20 Villanova students have embarked on a journey of a lifetime headed to Cape Town, South Africa on a mission trip over winter break. This is their story, share it with everyone you know.




But what's in store for these students?

They will be going through the travel agency of 2 way travel (2waytravel.com) and will be participating in a service tour of South Africe from December 29th to January 9th.
-Day 1: The students will arrive in Cape Town late that night and settle into
their new accomodations
-Day 2: The students will learn a little bit about the city they will be
staying in through some exploration while getting over the jet lag. Included
in this day of exploration will be some hiking and an African sunset!
-Day 3: On the last day of 2006 the students will attend church and meet people
living in the local culture.
-Day 4: For the next five days studnets will be working on projects at the
Baphumelele Children's Home in Khayelitsha. They will be doing anything from
organizing a holidy club and taking children on excursion, providing labor and
construction work for important maintenance jobs, playing with kids, or working
on a local Habitat for Humanity build. You can find out more about the Home
that we will be working on by visiting this site:
http://www.baphumelele.org.za/childrens_home.htm
-Day 9: Students will visit Nelson Mandela's home and learn more about the
apartheid that has affected the area.
-Day 10: To be determined, can include wokring at the orphanage, doing cultural
activities or whatever else the group deams important.
-Day 11: Leave for the United States.

More information to come!

Donations accepted!








Donations will go to the Baphumelele Children's Home in Cape town, South Africa. Once you have donated, your name will be added to the comments section of this post. Thank you so much for your support!

First Meeting Complete!

Yesterday, Monday October 30th the group got together for the first time! AFter learning a little bit about everyone from the name game everyone became acquainted and we continued with paperwork.

Important things to remember from last nights meeting:
-you should have filled out three different forms of paperwork
-you need three copies of your passport
-you need to write the letter to yourself and return it ASAP
-you should give your parents the flight itinerary!
-the next meeting is next Monday at 9:30