On a Mission: Baylor Students to Serve Around the World Over Spring Break

WACO, Texas (March 1, 2023) – Nearly 120 students and their faculty and staff leaders will serve with Baylor Missions over Spring Break March 4-12, combining faith, service and learning in a variety of domestic and international locations while supporting the ongoing efforts of the University’s global partners. 

Baylor Missions teams will be serving in the Rio Grande Valley (nursing), Louisiana (hurricane rebuilding), Kentucky (tornado rebuilding) and Florida (Honors College) and internationally in Amsterdam (accounting), Costa Rica (education) and the Dominican Republic (First Abroad Fellows, children’s ministries, medical/health).

Among the teams is a group of 15 First Abroad Fellows, first-generation students who have prioritized having an international experience during their time at Baylor. They will travel to the Dominican Republic, where they will partner with a local church to construct a home from start to finish in one week for a family in need.

“These trips allow students to integrate their disciplines and skills with service to show Christ’s love to others,” said Sarah Nelson, assistant director for missions at Baylor. Nelson will lead 17 students on the Louisiana mission trip, including seven students who served on Nelson’s team last year.

“Students will hopefully be deeply impacted through learning about different cultures, how their vocation could positively impact the world, how to love their neighbor and in their own spiritual formation,” Nelson said.

Baylor Missions Spring Break 2023

Nursing in the Rio Grande Valley: Students and faculty leaders in Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing will be working alongside local churches and clinics to shadow physicians, volunteer in clinics and provide humanitarian support for immigrants at respite centers.

Honors College in Florida: Students and faculty leaders with the Honors College at Baylor will continue its partnership with One More Child in its first trip since the pandemic. Working with the organization in Florida, this Baylor Missions team will work on food distribution, landscaping, painting and coming alongside their partner to support single mothers and foster families. 

School of Education in Costa Rica: A team with the Baylor School of Education will continue their work with their longtime local partner school in Costa Rica. As they work with the local community, they will spend time with high school students who have been learning English and are ready to practice the language, which helps them obtain better jobs in the community.

Graduate Accounting in Amsterdam: Baylor accounting graduate students in the Hankamer School of Business will work with the finance team of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) at their Amsterdam headquarters. Together, they will embark on a pilot project to assist in the preparation of the organization’s annual financial audit, with students using their accounting training to bring additional staff expertise to the project.

First Abroad in the Dominican Republic: A group of 15 First Abroad Fellows and leaders will travel to the Dominican Republic to construct a home in one week from start to finish for a family in need. By working alongside the Dominican church and Casas por Cristo, the students will help alleviate families’ financial burden and bring service in Christ’s name to this remarkable land. 

Tri Delta in the Dominican Republic: A team of 17 students with Baylor Tri Delta and their advisors will be in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, helping build a local school playground, leading Vacation Bible School activities and assisting at traveling clinics. The mission trip allows them to build relationships with local staff and church members and help fill various needs, such as delivering groceries and serving snacks at youth group gatherings.

MAPS, BMSA in the Dominican Republic: A team from Baylor medical-related student organizations – Multicultural Association of Prehealth Students (MAPS) and Bears Medical Student Association (BMSA) – will assist local medical professionals in Azua, Dominican Republic, and serve women and children at various locations, including a hospital, medical clinic and school.

Disaster Recovery in Kentucky and Louisiana: Baylor Missions will continue its disaster relief and recovery work in Mayfield, Kentucky, a community devastated by a catastrophic tornado in December 2021, and LaPlace, Louisiana, which was hit hard by Hurricane Ida in September 2021. Baylor Missions teams of students and leaders have served these communities for the past two years, coming alongside community partners as they undertake rebuilding and repair efforts for homes. Students will work on building new homes, hanging drywall, painting and working with the youth and kids’ programs at partner churches.

ABOUT BAYLOR MISSIONS

Baylor Missions creates tangible opportunities for students to serve others through their academic discipline. These experiences allow students to reflect on how God might use the knowledge and skills they gain at Baylor to make a difference in the world while providing opportunities to experience and learn from a different culture and be a part of what God is doing in and around the world.

Baylor Missions is guided by the following principles:

• Discipline-Specific Missions: A discipline-specific approach to missions helps students understand how they can use their specific strengths and passions in service of Christ and the world.
• Global and Community Partners: Working alongside partners, who are individuals or organizations embedded in their respective community, that help lead efforts to meet the needs of communities of care.
• Long-Term Commitment: Sustainable partnerships significantly impact communities of care over time with Baylor Missions committing to three- to five-year partnerships when collaborating to serve a specific location and address a particular challenge identified by communities of care.
• Reciprocity: Creating a life experience where mutual transformation occurs from learning from other cultures, as well as sharing with them knowledge, resources and care.
• Reflection/Integration: Ensuring that all students have an outlet for reflection on their transformative experience, a process to help students integrate their experience into their daily lives.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.