The Spring 2002 SST unit in the Dominican Republic is over. But this website will remain available.

January 10, 2002 -- Santo Domingo, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Americas has 16 new residents tonight. Students arrived today, and are spending the night in a guesthouse in the old, Colonial part of the city. Tomorrow they will spend the day in orientation and then at 5:00 pm will meet their families who will take them to their new homes for the weekend. Monday morning, there are language evaluations and public transportation training. Then Tuesday, the routine of language study in the morning and lectures in the afternoon will begin.

Leaders of the spring 2002 SST unit in the Dominican Republic are Galen and Ruth Graber. (Pictured with their daughter, Natalie, age 3.) Galen has worked at Goshen College for 17 years, most recently as Director of Student Financial Aid. Ruth is a registered nurse.

Galen was an SST student in Costa Rica in 1982, and calls the experience "My best semester in college. It was the time in my life when I learned the most about myself and the world around me". Galen grew up in Brazil until the age of 16 where his parents were missionaries. Prior to being married, Galen (along with a colleague, Carey Miller) also led 2 groups of SST in the Dominican Republic during the 1995-96 school year. Ruth also graduated from GC in '87, and participated in SST in Belize. Natalie calls the Goshen College house in the Dominican Republic the "lizard" house (because there are many lizards which roam around the back yard) in order to distinguish it from her "brown" house in Goshen.