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scrublands, evocative colonial architecture and other locals with their English skills, a highly Learn more about Knights Impact at www.mga.edu/knights-impact
beaches galore.” popular pick among the students;
Except for the desert scrublands, MGA • working with a group of Dominican women
students and their faculty and staff advisors at their recycled paper co-op;
experienced all of those settings during their • upgrading dirt floors in homes with the
visit in and around Puerto Plata, a city of nearly safer, healthier alternative of concrete; and
160,000 nestled between the ocean and a • making clay filters for families with no
mountain on the Dominican’s northern coast. access to piped/potable water.
They arrived there on board the Adonia, a ship
operated by the Fathom cruise company The trip included plenty of play time – beach
specifically for “social impact travel.” sojourns, city tours, shopping, zip lining and, of
Forty-eight hours after setting sail from course, entertainment of all kinds aboard the ship.
Miami, the ship – an elegant, intimate vessel Still, why would a group of university students,
designed for up to 700 passengers instead of the ranging in age from 18 to late 40s, pay to do
thousands typical of entertainment cruises – volunteer work, some of it quite labor intensive,
docked for three and half days in Amber Cove, in a country where, according to Lonely Planet,
a tourist port just outside Puerto Plata. nearly 40 percent of the population is impover-
Amber Cove is filled with duty free shops, ished?
a water park and shore excursion pickup sites “For me, it’s a broadening of perspective,”
where the students gathered each day for bus rides said Garrett Stone, 23, a psychology major from
to their impact activities, most hosted by locally Macon, sitting on the pool deck the morning after
hired guides. the Adonia set sail. “I couldn’t imagine what it’s
“Knights Impact is a unique opportunity like to live anywhere else or be anyone else. This is
for students to participate in an authentic learn- definitely one of my biggest paradigm shifts.”
ing experience that connects their classroom One of the impact activities Stone chose was
coursework to real world scenarios,” said Chris the opportunity to work at RePapel, a co-op in
Tsavatewa, director of MGA’s Office of Experien- a poor province of Puerto Plata run by a group
tial Learning. “Communities are impacted and of women to reduce waste and create income by
students experience personal growth as they criti- recycling paper.
cally reflect on the application of their academic He was joined by at least eight other MGA
knowledge and dedication to civic engagement.” students, who were greeted in joyous song by the
Dominican women who run the co-op, located in
“For me, it’s a broadening of perspective. a dense neighborhood of homes and small
This is definitely one of my biggest businesses.
paradigm shifts.” Rotating through various work stations, the
students helped tear used white paper into bits,
MAKING AN IMPACT which the women of RePapel washed and pulver-
ized in blenders. Students helped them spread
Each MGA student, who paid around $800- the pulpy mass onto sifting trays and set them on
$900 to go on the trip, chose three of all available shelves so the product could dry. The eventual
impact activities to take part in while the ship was result is recycled paper sheets that look and feel
in port. Some of the choices were: like parchment and are turned into notepads and
cards.
• planting tree seedlings to help restore At another station, students wrapped thin
degraded soil in the countryside, one of Klingler’s strips of colorful magazine paper around long
three picks; toothpick-like sticks to shape little glue-sealed
• helping Dominican schoolchildren and balls. Pulling the paper balls off the sticks,
students helped further refine them into lovely
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Fall 2017 MGA TODAY 11
