Life-Changing Travels
By Leah Simmons '09
I had two amazing travel experiences last year - one to the South to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort and the other to Istanbul, Turkey on an Exploration Seminar. During our relief week in Mississippi and Louisiana, our group of 160 students split into teams to help in any way we could, mostly gutting damaged homes and visiting with hurting residents.
The Istanbul trip was part of a religion class called "Islam and Christianity in Modern Turkey." During our weeklong stay in the city we even had an audience with His All Holiness Bartholomew, Patriarch of Constantinople and the Orthodox Church.
These trips through Concordia have changed my life and opened my eyes to a world that is becoming smaller every day through technology and forms of communication. They're also preparing me for my dream to join the Peace Corps after college, a dream I've had since high school.
I reconnected with my friends from the hurricane relief trip when we came together again to help others during the annual Relay for Life on campus. We raised money for cancer research by walking all night along a path lined with luminaries bearing the names of those affected by cancer. It's just one of the many ways Concordia helps people and encourages students to take leadership roles in that process.
