ALUMNI, STUDENTS TRAVEL TO
FOR A LIFE - CHANGING EXPERIENCE
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A team of 30 Kettering College students, faculty members, and alumni recently traveled to remote locations in Thailand, where they provided medical care to people of all ages. The team set up clinics in an orphanage in the jungle, on a university campus, in a Buddhist temple, and on a factory lot, returning home with vivid memories and new perspectives.
The 10-day trip, which took place during spring break in March, was sponsored by the College’s International Medical Missions (IMM) program, in partnership with Kettering Health Network. The IMM program typically sponsors two trips a year; in July 2019, a separate team traveled to Peru. “These trips are one way Kettering College lives out its mission to make service a life calling,” said Steve Carlson, Kettering College chaplain. “Medical missions give students opportunities to use their knowledge and skills in meaningful service.” Carlson, who organizes IMM trips, added that alumni participation is an important element of each trip. “Their involvement not only presents a wonderful opportunity to connect with their alma mater and give back in service; it also positively impacts the students, who learn as they work alongside experienced medical professionals,” he said.
pacesetter • 2019
The alumni department presented grants totaling $10,000 to five of the alumni participants. Among them was Karie McGill, a 2015 graduate of the physician assistant program.
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“The experience of watching and teaching students as a clinician while remembering what it was like to be a student was surreal,” McGill said.
The Thailand trip was 2019 nursing graduate Brooke Hartman’s second with IMM. In 2017, she traveled to Peru. “There is just a deep sense of wholeness and closeness that is experienced only on these trips,” Hartman said. “It’s not just about physical healing for others, but also inner peace and purpose are gained when we make ourselves available to these incredible medical mission opportunities that Kettering College offers. On the last night, we were at the Bamboo School Orphanage, and we worshiped with the children. There was a moment when they were ever so sweetly singing songs in English about Jesus. I felt complete gratitude and amazement that these children know him and that our stories have the privilege of intertwining.” Anisha Mathi, a 2015 physician assistant graduate, said the highlight of the trip for her was seeing Kettering College students grow spiritually. “These trips are helping to fulfill our mission as a Christian institution, showing and sharing Jesus’ love by living his love,” said Mathi, the trip’s clinical operations leader. “It felt great knowing we could help so many people and that it was giving the students a huge opportunity.”
Mo r e i n fo r m at i o n abo ut the IMM Pro gram, including the applic ation for 2020 trips, is availab le at www.kc.edu/ im m
