While service trips often bring Boston College students to various parts of the country and world, one lesser-known service trip brings other students to the BC campus. This week, a group of Native American high school seniors visited BC for five days as part of the Jemez to BC Immersion Program. In January, BC students will in turn visit Jemez Pueblo, N.M., on their own service trip.
The idea of having other students come to BC in a mutual exchange originated while BC students were on their own service immersion trip. Since 2003, a group of about 20 BC students has traveled to Jemez Pueblo, N.M., every year. These students engage in traditional service trip activities, including volunteering in the community, forming relations with community members, and experiencing a new culture. The students who have gone in the past enjoyed the trip, but were looking for something more.
"The idea is that all of the service trips go somewhere else to experience a different culture. We wanted to make it a two-way street where they experience our culture as well," said Margaret Raskob, A&S '11.
Last year, the group decided to bring several seniors from the local high school in Jemez Pueblo to BC to experience the culture of a Catholic university. According to the Jemez Pueblo Service and Immersion Trip Web site, "The Jemez to BC Immersion Program was founded with the dual objective of demonstrating continued solidarity with the members of the Pueblo while also encouraging innovation in service on campus."
Some students have said that they appreciate this aspect of mutual exchange. "I have done other off-campus service trips, but I thought this was unique. Instead of going somewhere else, other people get to come here," Kevin Schuster, A&S '11, said. "It is an opportunity to share our culture with them."
Jordan Ferguson, A&S '11, agreed. "BC always goes to other places, where we get to immerse ourselves in their culture. This trip gives them the ability to get to see our culture and what we do. They get to see what we have at BC," he said.
The Native American students are from two tribes - the Jemez Pueblo and the Zia Pueblo - on reservations in New Mexico. They are all seniors from three different high schools around New Mexico and were nominated by teachers to go on the trip. While in Boston, they were hosted by 15 BC students and participated in several activities to gain a feel for the undergraduate experience. These activities were both on and off campus and included attending classes for three days with their hosts; listening to several presentations from the offices of admission, financial aid, and first-year experience; as well as going on a tour of Fenway Park and attending a basketball game.
While the trip is designed to immerse members of Jemez Pueblo and Zia Pueblo in the college campus culture, it also gave members of the BC community the opportunity to learn about the visiting students as they interacted. "One of the other reasons for the trip is to promote awareness of Native American culture here on campus," Ferguson said. "As a member of the Society of Native American Peoples (SNAP), I look at this service trip as an opportunity to help share Native American culture with my peers."
The high school students gave a presentation on their own culture in a discussion titled "The Voices of the Pueblo." All of the visiting students participated in the event, with some giving a history of the various tribal dances and songs, and some performing them for the audience. Students also engaged in a discussion about life on the Pueblo and the larger issues affecting Native American communities.
BC students who participated in the program said they enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about another perspective. "I went on a service trip to reservation in eastern Montana. It was a neat experience, and I learned a lot about Native American culture. It influenced me to do the same kind of thing again with this trip here on campus," said Kathryn Cronquist, A&S '11, who hosted one of the visiting students.
The visiting students themselves have taken away much from their experience at BC. "It was fun to go out there and perform what we know; to show our culture to you guys," said Marcelino Bacca, one of the visiting students participating in the program. Bacca said he enjoyed his visit, which made him think about his own plans for college. "I could see myself at a place like this in the future. It's really nice and pretty fun," Bacca said.
Another student, Lorenzo Pino, said that he wished the exchange had lasted longer. "It's really nice here, I really like it. I wish I had two weeks here because it's getting a lot more fun every day," Pino said. When asked if there was anything unexpected about campus, most of the students offered the typical complaint that there are too many stairs on campus. "The campus looks small and compact on a map, but when you get here, you see all of the stairs. It's crazy," Pino said.
To complement this trip, BC students will travel to Jemez Pueblo in January. While only two of the current hosts have been on the trip to Jemez Pueblo, Raskob hoped to increase this number. "The goal is that in the future, many BC students who host Jemez or Zia Pueblo students will go on the service trip to Jemez Pueblo, and vice versa," Raskob said. Many of the current hosts expressed interest in participating in the trip to Jemez Pueblo. "This experience has been a lot of fun. It's been really interesting to work with Native Americans. Everything was different than when I visited Montana. I would definitely do it again," Cronquist said.
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