GCC Students Spend Spring Break on Mission Trips

GROVE CITY, Pa. – More than 100 Grove City College students will be spending a week this month doing volunteer and ministry work in inner cities at home and abroad.
The students are participants in the college’s Inner City Outreach program, which will take them over spring break, March 21-25, to Tucson, Ariz.; Ashland, Ky.; Chicago, Los Angeles, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

The mission trips began in 1983. Although students are not required to participate, nearly one-third of the student body completes an Inner City Outreach trip before they graduate.

The program has grown to an average of 20 trips annually, with almost half of the trips to international destinations. ICO trips are student-initiated and student-led.  Grove City College provides training and resources for the leaders of each approved trip.

“ICOs are a wonderful way for students to step out of their comfort zones and serve others,” said Devayani Wintrode, director of Campus Ministries, in a statement. “So many students go on an ICO for the first time and come back changed, looking at the world around them differently and realizing that they can make an impact wherever they are, whether across the globe or here on campus.”

Sophomore Alissa Winters travelled to Jamaica in January. She says her trip was a welcome opportunity to not only learn about the culture she was visiting, but also learn from the people with whom she was interacting. “ICO Jamaica was crucial in opening my eyes to how we should be living our everyday lives as Christians. Sometimes I think we have to get outside of our routine and our sense of normalcy to allow ourselves to truly be open to God,” Winters explained.

Pictured: Students on a mission trip to Central America during spring break 2015.

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