Global Engagement

Jul 26 2021

Hayley Bickford is a senior majoring in Psychology with a Business minor. After a long week of math camp, we escaped to Utah for a weekend retreat. We woke up early Saturday morning to head out. On our way, though,...

Jul 23 2021

Landon is a junior who is majoring in Biology. Throughout our journeys in the Navajo and Hopi nations, we are required to share our thoughts, themes and emergent experiences via journal entries. Three times a week, students are given journal...

Jul 20 2021

Mariah Kaufman is a senior who is double majoring in Music and Secondary Education. On Wednesday, we had our largest attendance at Math Camp thus far- a grand 23 students showed up and outnumbered us. With a steady increase in...

Jul 20 2021

Gabe Beck is a senior who is majoring in chemistry and secondary education. This week marked the beginning of Summer Math Camp at the Peace Academic Center, and our group had the wonderful opportunity of getting to plan and run...

Jul 15 2021

Our first few days on Hopi land have been filled with pottery sherds—not shards as I had previously thought—petroglyphs, ruins, and other pieces of the past. Monday’s trip began with a very bumpy 40-minute drive, after which Erik and Lance...

Jul 13 2021

Josh Friesen is a Senior biochemistry major with a Spanish minor. This past Thursday, we were fortunate enough to be able to spend a day at Grand Canyon National Park, and naturally it was exciting to be able to visit...

Jul 13 2021

Jared Juarez Salgado is a sophomore at Goshen College with a major in biochemistry and a minor in Spanish. During our stay in the Navajo reservation we had the opportunity to learn about Navajo customs and also practices. One day...

Jul 09 2021

Elizabeth Reimer, the author of this post, is a double major in Bible and Religion and Peace Justice & Conflict Studies. On Sunday, we transitioned from Navajo to Hopi. We said goodbye to our gracious hosts at Black Mountain Mennonite...

Jul 09 2021

Acadia Imhof is a junior sustainability studies major. As our time at Black Mountain Mennonite comes to a close, I cannot help but reflect on how we were embraced into that community. When I first set foot there I felt...

Jul 09 2021

The majority of our time in the Navajo Nation was spent building relationships with the Black Mountain Church community. But, we also managed to fit in a number of guest speakers, field trips, hikes and other activities. Crystalyne Curley, Senior...

Jul 09 2021

Willa Beidler is a sophomore biochemistry major and the author of this post. This week the adventure shifted as we stayed with host families for three days. I stayed with a woman named Sami and her mother Leta. The two...

Jul 09 2021

Anna Smucker is a Graphic Design major, double minoring in Music and Bible and Religion. For the past three days, I had the opportunity to stay with a host family and two other students, a couple of miles away from...

Jul 08 2021

Aurora Flores Avila is a sophomore nursing major with a minor in Spanish. After a late night of singing and prayer we all awoke sleepy eyed and ready for another day of church camp. The day’s activities started with breakfast...

Jul 08 2021

Meagan Gutierrez is a senior double major in English and Secondary Education. On our second day at Black Mountain Mennonite Church, a local teacher came to talk to us about her life and career. Irene Bizahaloni teaches the Navajo language...

Jun 27 2021

Ben Good-Elliott is a senior physics major. As somebody from Goshen, I am used to lots of trees. While there are plenty of corn and soy fields around, in town, there are trees blocking off large portions of the sky....

Jun 27 2021

Ben Reichenbach is a senior molecular biology major and theater minor. He wrote the following reflections from Mesa Verde. The first thing that I noticed when we entered our campsite at Mesa Verde National Park was a chorus of almost...

Jun 27 2021

The author of this post is Levi Glick, a senior interdisciplinary major: Our first stop was at Bethel College to hear from historian and archivist, John D. Thiesen, about the earliest anthropological study of the Hopi tribe in modern day Arizona....

Jun 27 2021

We left Goshen on the morning of June 16 with a 15 passenger bus, a mini van and a car packed with 18 students, 5 members of the Yoder Lind family and as many backpacks, sleeping bags, and suitcases along...

Jun 27 2021

We’re piloting a new model of Study Service Term. After two intensive courses on campus in May and June, students take a six week course of immersive, experiential learning first with the Navajo people and then with the Hopi. Students...

May 28 2021

All good things must come to an end, including experiential learning in outdoor settings that give our lungs a chance to breath fresh air and our minds an encounter with paradigm-shifting perspectives, a.k.a. the Indigenous Economies May Term course.  Most...

May 23 2021

Going to a place where you have never been before and doing things that are unfamiliar can be quite scary. But besides this feeling, there is also something else that you look forward to and that is excitement. This is...

May 23 2021

Upon arriving in Marianna, Florida we were greeted by the long term Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers. After being introduced to crew leaders, cooks, and an office manager we were given a rundown of what a typical work day looked like....

May 23 2021

Every experience on this trip has been extraordinary. Adapting to a new environment has been a challenge and I have never relied on my faith more than the test of this trip. Mennonite Disaster Service kindly offered us housing during...

May 19 2021

  The author of this post is Naomi Ross Richer, a first-year Deaf Studies major from Goshen, Indiana: The southern shore of lake Michigan is home to Mnomen, known as wild rice in English. This staple in the traditional Potawatomi...