On a Mission: Baylor Students to Serve Around the World Over Spring Break
Baylor accounting students and faculty draw a connection between their training and service by helping Amsterdam's Youth With A Mission (YWAM) with audit preparation during tax season.
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WACO, Texas (Feb. 28, 2024) – Nearly 75 students and faculty and staff leaders will serve with Baylor Missions over spring break March 2-10, combining faith, service and learning in five international locations while supporting the ongoing efforts of the University’s global partners.
“These trips allow Baylor students to integrate their disciplines and skills with service to show Christ’s love to others,” said Sarah Nelson, assistant director for missions in the Department of Missions, Service and Public Life at Baylor. “Students will hopefully be deeply impacted through learning about different cultures, how their vocation could positively impact the world and how to love their neighbor, as well as in their own spiritual formation.”
Baylor Missions Spring Break 2024
Accounting and Business Law in Spain: An accounting and business law team from Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business will work alongside global leaders from Unbound Now in Spain to enable students to develop the business skills that increase their effectiveness in fighting the human trafficking crisis in Europe and globally. Students will learn firsthand about the crisis and engage with government and business personnel to gain greater insight into the integrated approach needed to mount an effective fight. They also will serve the Unbound Now global leadership by teaching accounting and finance skills in in-depth, tangible and applicable ways.
BMSA in Costa Rica: A team of students with the Baylor Medical Student Association will assist local ministries in Costa Rica in various ways alongside partner One More Child, including health education and children’s ministries.
Education in Costa Rica: A team with the Baylor School of Education will continue their work with a 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 assist the finance team of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) at their Amsterdam headquarters on a pilot project to prepare the organization’s annual financial audit, with students using their accounting training to bring additional staff expertise to the project.
Pre-PA Society & MAPS in the Dominican Republic: A team of Baylor students from the student organizations Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) and Pre-Physician Assistant (PA) Society will assist local medical professionals in Azua, Dominican Republic, and serve women and children at various locations, including a hospital, medical clinic and school.
Urban Food Projects in Japan: With food insecurity a global systemic issue that can happen to anyone, a team of 10 students and two faculty members in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures will visit sites in urban Japan to understand the challenges of food insecurity alongside teams of local college students. Hosei University in Tokyo and Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka will host Baylor as the student teams work together to volunteer in each city, focusing on serving at kids’ cafes, which provide nutritious meals and a welcoming environment for children from low-income backgrounds or those who eat alone.
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.