Spring break is typically a time for students to relax before finishing out the spring semester. Some students spend the week at home with family, some unwind in a warmer location, but some spend the break ministering and serving others in need.

This year Trevecca had four student groups serving both domestically and abroad. The women's soccer team served in Jamaica, Trevecca's physician assistant program in Haiti, and those involved with Trevecca Around the Globe (TAG) worked in San Francisco, California. In addition, Trevecca's Jazz Band and Gospel Choir served in Washington, D.C. 

Freshman Diana Corzine was one of 18 soccer players and four coaches who worked with Global Soccer Ministries to visit the Mustard Seed Community Orphanage for disabled children, Maxfield Park Children's Home, and Mona High School, where they played soccer with and loved on the students.

"I have a ton of favorite moments from the trip, but if I had to pick one specifically it would be walking into the classrooms on site at the Mustard Seed," Corzine said. "I was kind of terrified going into the week because I haven't interacted with kids a lot throughout my life so I didn't think I would be very good at it, but when we walked in to see these little four- and five-year-old Jamaican children, every one of them had huge smiles on their faces and were obviously just excited that we had come to visit them."

They also squeezed in time to compete. 

"We played a game against a local club team called Waterhouse early on in the week and then went to the University of the West Indies to play their women's team on Wednesday," Corzine said. "We lost 1-2 and won 2-0, respectively." 

Corzine, a communication studies major from Plant City, Florida, said she felt God encouraging her during the trip.

"This was my first ever missions trip so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I would say it was a huge success, not only because we got to share God's love with people of a different culture, but also because I think we saw a lot of God's love ourselves," Corzine said.

Sophomore Haley Whetstone was one of 10 students who served in San Francisco with TAG. They worked with an organization called Center for Student Missions.

"We stayed in Oakland, California, and each day, Monday through Friday, we visited one or two social service agencies in either Oakland or San Francisco," she said. "We also did two activities in areas of severe homelessness in order to expose ourselves to that way of life. One activity, Meet A Need, required our team to split up and explore the Mission area of San Francisco and get to know some of the homeless residents. A second activity was trying to find a meal in a similar area for $2 each."

Whetstone was most surprised by the homeless population.

"San Francisco has the largest homeless population per capita in America," she said. "San Francisco's population as a whole is just under a million, but on any given night there are 25,000 people on the streets without a permanent place to sleep. This number is staggering."

The agencies they worked with included serving at St. Vincent's Day Home, a day care for low-income families, delivering food to ill residents in San Francisco through Project Open Hand, preparing meals at the San Francisco Food Bank and St. Vincient's De Paul Dinning Room in Oakland, serving at the Bay Area Rescue Mission after school program, and serving the elderly at Laguna Honda Hospital.

The Trevecca Jazz Band and Gospel Choir explored Washington, D.C. and performed for a North Carolina Youth Rally at Elon Powerline Church of the Nazarene in Elon, North Carolina. The group also provided music for a school-wide chapel service at Tri-Cities Christian School in Blountville, Tennessee.

"I wish we had more time to explore D.C., but performing with Gospel Choir was extremely powerful and moving and the whole trip was a great experience," said Emma Covill, a sophomore student.
--Trevecca Nazarene University