Are you interested in getting out of the “Saint Louis University bubble” to learn more about the injustices present in this country? Do you want to build community with fellow students through engaging in meaningful conversations about faith and justice? Are you ready to discover how you are being called to work toward a more just world?
Spring Break Immersion Program
Through engaging in the pillars of community, spirituality, justice and solidarity, the Campus Ministry Spring Break Immersion Program will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone in order to accompany people on the margins and to critically engage with the social injustices facing those people — and to allow yourself to be radically transformed in the process.
While your actual immersion trip may last only a week, the knowledge you gain and the growth you experience will last long after that, and our program will continue to support and engage you in your ongoing efforts to work for justice in your communities and to stand in solidarity through practices of accompaniment and advocacy.
2021-2022 Immersion Program Applications
Applications for the 2021-2022 Immersion Program are open now. All applications will be due on Sunday, November 7, 2021. Contact Michelle Verner, immersion program coordinator, at michelle.verner@slu.edu or 314-977-1532 with any questions.
Financial assistance is available for any student who wishes to participate in an immersion experience, but would have difficulty paying the total cost.
Apply for Immersion Program Financial Assistance
2021-22 Program Dates
| Dates | Events |
|---|---|
| Sept. 20, 2021 | Application launch |
| Oct. 7, 2021, 7-8 p.m. | First information session (optional) |
| Nov. 3, 2021, 7-8 p.m. | Second information session (optional) |
| Nov. 7, 2021 | Application/deposit deadline |
| Dec. 1, 2021 | Participant forms due |
| Dec. 10, 2021 | First payment due |
| Jan. 21, 2022 | Second/final payment due |
| Jan. 27, 2022, 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Program kickoff event (required) |
| Jan. 31 - Mar. 4, 2022 | Five weeks of pre-trip meetings with individual trip groups (required) |
| Mar. 10, 2022, 6-7 p.m. | Sending Forth Service (required) |
| Mar. - Apr. 2022 | Complete solidarity projects with trip group |
| Mar. 11/12 - 19/20, 2022 | Spring Break immersion trips (exact dates vary by trip) |
| Mar. 28 - Apr. 8, 2022 | Two weeks of post-trip meetings with individual trip groups |
| Apr. 9, 2022, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. | Post-trip Day of Reflection (required) |
Trip Descriptions
This immersion is designed to help you see the world through the experiences, unique challenges and joys of someone with an intellectual and or physical disability. You will spend a week with the L'Arche Community, an organization that provides homes and workplaces where people with and without disabilities share life together as peers. You will serve with the community as a companion and helper, sharing meals, having conversations and accompanying members, as well as performing basic maintenance such as painting and cleaning in the houses themselves or at partner agencies.
Partner organization: L’Arche of Mobile
Trip cost: $300
Pre-trip meeting day/time: Mondays from 6:30-8:00pm
Through this trip you will examine the unique public health challenges created by rural poverty in Appalachia, as well as the ways local communities are and are not addressing them. You will spend time in various sites in rural West Virginia, where you will attend presentations about alcohol and drug abuse, access to nutritious food, and the effects of environmental degradation due to industrial activities in the region. You will also work with the local agencies below to gain a more nuanced understanding of these issues through personal connection with patients in public health clinics and children in after-school programs.
Partner organizations: Appalachian Institute of Wheeling University, ABLE Families
Trip cost: $300
Pre-trip meeting day/time: Tuesdays from 7:00-8:30pm
This trip, in partnership with the Br. David Darst Center in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, IL, serves as an experiential learning space to confront injustices and the reality of oppression. Through partnerships with local agencies in Chicago, trip participants are able to get to know people directly impacted, challenge societal stereotypes, and break down barriers that continue to perpetuate inequity and indifference.
Partner organization: Br. David Darst Center for Justice & Peace, Spirituality & Education
Trip cost: $300
Pre-trip meeting day/time: Wednesdays from 7:00-8:30pm
At St. Anne’s Mission located on the Navajo Nation, we will immerse in service and
education, helping with some manual work and visiting with students at a local Catholic
school. You will learn from some Navajos about life on a reservation today. There
will be a focus on public health-related issues including substance abuse, diabetes
and access to healthy food. You will also experience the distinctive cultural richness
of the Navajo people, including their history, landscape, mythology and rituals, learning
opportunities for solidarity and accompaniment.
Partner Organization: Saint Anne’s Mission
Trip cost: $300
Pre-trip meetings: Wednesdays from 7:00-8:30pm
This immersion explores how crime impacts communities, what measures and policies
can help them heal, and what our responsibilities are to those who have hurt us. You
will work with the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative in the prisons and jails
around Los Angeles County. The group will also meet with organizations working to
reform the criminal justice system in California.
NOTE: Due to age restrictions for visiting prisons/jails in the state of California,
you must be 21 years of age to participate in this immersion.
Partner Organization: Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative, Anti Recidivism Coalition, Homeboy Industries, Inside Out Writers
Trip cost: $600
Pre-trip meetings: Thursdays from 5:30-7:00pm
Step out of your everyday life -- out of your comfort zone -- and into in-depth, experiential learning and cultural immersion. The Border Immersion Experience is an opportunity to learn about the issues that affect lives of people living on the border. The program includes: fellowship at El Paso-Ciudad Juárez fence, presentations at various social justice ministries, assisting with after school program, personal accounts of border life exposure to Mexican & Mexican-American culture, tours of colonias (rural settlements) in El Paso, daily reflections, visit to ministries in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and bilingual worship at Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey.
**Please note, depending on up-to-date US State Department travel warnings, we may
not cross the border to spend time in Juarez, MX**
Partner Organization: Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey
Trip cost: $600
Pre-trip meetings: Tuesdays from 7:00-8:30pm