On May 29, 2013 the CCES student body dispersed into the carefree world of summer. Over the course of 77 days, Christ Church students enjoyed different activities. Some these dealt with mission work while others traveled across the world. One Sophomore student, Shipra Bethi, took a mission trip with her family to India, where she gave Polio drops to children in need. These drops gave the kids an opportunity to live a normal childhood. Shipra’s trip not only gave her a glance into the world of medicine, but also brought her closer to her family. After going two years without seeing her grandparents, it was a joyous reunion. When asked about her experience she stated that, “Volunteering is great, but I haven’t seen my family in a long time.” She is also using this experience as her sophomore project.

Another student, Osborne Brown, took a mission trip with his family all the way to Kenya. During this trip, the Brown family was stationed at one the largest hospitals in the area. Therefore they dealt with a variety of different situations, some including people with Cliff Palate and some dealt with a variety of medical conditions. Since the culture in Kenya is so different from here in the states, the Brown family had to overcome challenges. One of the challenges they had to go through was adjusting to the amount of medical training the doctors and nurses in Kenya had. They were neither experienced nor as trained as American doctors, which made it harder for the American doctors to work with them. With strong communication and eventually getting on the same page, the doctors and nurses worked together, and were able to properly provide each patient as much medical attention as possible.Osborne loved this trip, along with the lessons he learned from it. When asked about the kind of people in Kenya he said “They can’t do anything to help themselves, so if you do the tiniest thing to to help them they love it”. Osborne’s journey gave him more experience in the medical field and allowed him to broaden his horizons.

All the CCES students made the most of the past three months. Whether you stayed at home or travelled across the globe, it is agreeable that the past three months of pure bliss were enjoyed by all.