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A Meaningful Journey

Victoria Klingler plants mahogany seedlings
during the reforestation impact activity
in the Dominican countryside. Many MGA
students participated in this activity but
not all with the same group. SHERON SMITH

By Sheron Smith

For a pioneering group of MGA students, Except for the desert scrublands, MGA students and
time abroad was time to serve. their faculty and staff advisors experienced all of those set-
tings during their visit in and around Puerto Plata, a city
On a humid day in late May, Victoria Klingler is of nearly 160,000 nestled between the ocean and a moun-
navigating some hilly countryside in the Domini- tain on the Dominican’s northern coast. They arrived there
can Republic, making her way on foot to a flatbed on board the Adonia, a ship operated by the Fathom cruise
truck to fetch a mahogany seedling and carry it to a small, company specifically for “social impact travel.”
freshly dug hole in the grassy slope.
Forty-eight hours after setting sail from Miami, the
Klingler is 19, a native of Byron. It’s the Middle Geor- ship - an elegant, intimate vessel designed for up to 700
gia State University biology major’s first time traveling passengers instead of the thousands typical of entertain-
outside the U.S. ment cruises - docked for three and half days in Amber
Cove, a touristy port just outside Puerto Plata. Amber
But here, near the tiny village of Barrabas in this lush Cove is filled with duty free shops, a water park and shore
Caribbean nation, she feels surprisingly at home. excursion pickup sites where the students gathered each
day for bus rides to their impact activities, most hosted by
“I grew up on a cattle farm, going to livestock shows,” locally hired guides.
she said, her face slightly sweaty as she sets the tree
seedling in the ground and uses both hands to brush dirt “Fathom is about cultural immersion and making so-
into the hole. Klingler will repeat the process half a dozen cial impact,” a representative of the cruise line said during
times or more over the next two hours. an onboard orientation. “We partner with local organiza-
tions and work alongside people from the community.”
“I know hard work. This is hard, but it’s fun. We’re
getting to see the real Dominican Republic.” The Adonia.

Klingler, a sophomore who plans to become a SHERON SMITH
large-animal veterinarian, was one of about 25 MGA
students who visited the Dominican as part of the Univer-
sity’s first “Knights Impact” experience, a service-learning
trip to what the Lonely Planet travel guide describes as the
Caribbean’s most geographically diverse country, “with
stunning mountain scenery, desert scrublands, evocative
colonial architecture and beaches galore.”

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