Page 5 - Knights_Impact_Dominican

SHERON SMITH
Some of the Knights Impact students pose for a group shot in SHERON SMITH
Amber Cove.
SHERON SMITH
Two Dominican children show how closely they bonded with MGA
student Lenora Rozier during the English tutoring impact activity. call for the Adonia.
With the aid of a workbook designed for the occa-
sion, Silva also guided Angelica in using the words in writ-
ten sentences. The two quickly bonded and acknowledged
success with the occasional fist bump.
“She’s pretty advanced,” said Silva, who speaks some
self-taught Spanish. “She’s helping me with my Spanish as
much as I’m teaching her English.”
Angelica told Silva she wants to be a doctor and
thinks learning English is beneficial to that goal.
“It’s wonderful to see children who can already speak
a foreign language,” said Silva, a Marine Corps veteran and
former banker preparing for a new career in nursing home
administration. “That’s very humbling to me as an Ameri-
can.”
Standing Out
Besides Middle Georgia State students, the impact
travel cruise included students from several other col-
leges and universities, including Tuskegee; church groups;
retirees; young couples; solo travelers and others looking
for a more meaningful experience than a typical leisure
cruise. Many of the MGA students stood out among the
passengers, not only for the purple Knights t-shirts they
frequently wore but for their exuberance.
“I’d never been out of my state,” Charlita Wynn, 24,
who just graduated from MGA with a Health Services Ad-
Dr. Laura Thomason and MGA students in her cohort were also
part of a larger group of Adonia passengers that participated in
the reforestation impact activity.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. LAURA THOMASON
Amber Cove on the northern coast of the Dominican, the port of
ministration degree, said at a trip debriefing open to all of
the ship’s passengers. “This is my first cruise. I can’t swim
and I’m afraid of heights. But it has been worth every
penny I spent to be here. Now I’m wondering what comes
next.”
“I’m forever changed,” LaTrina Hill, 28, a Respiratory
Therapy major from Macon, offered at the same gathering.
“I want to do more of this. I fell in love with the Domin-
ican people. They work so hard for everything they have
and they are willing to share it with you.”
The debriefing was bittersweet in that it took place
during what turned out to be Fathom’s last cruise to the
Dominican. The Cuba trips also ended as Fathom pre-
pared to fold into the British cruise line P&O. Fathom
administrators said they are working with industry part-
ners to develop impact activity shore excursion options for
passengers taking standard cruises. But for now at least,
cruises specifically programmed around impact activities
are over.
For Knights Impact, though, it’s just the beginning.
“We are actively developing the next version of
Knights Impact and anticipate offering a program of sim-
ilar emphasis, duration and cost to students in May 2018,”
Thomason said. “What the Fathom trip helped us demon-
strate is that Knights Impact is an international learning
opportunity for students whose academic programs don’t
lend themselves as readily to a study abroad experience. It
offers a way in to experiential learning and service learn-
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