Dr. Donna Van Bodegraven (Foreign Languages – Spanish) accompanied a group of nine Elon students and two Elon alumni during a fall break service and educational trip to the Arizona/Mexico border. The trip was organized by senior Spanish Honors Fellow Molly Costigan to support her thesis research on immigration issues. Trip participants were seniors Molly Costigan, Alex deLong, Roberta Jo Hawthorne, Grace Iorio, Jenn Kirchner, Joey Schmissrauter and Amanda Stamplis, sophomore Emily Ash, and alumni Luke Iacarella and Coral Zayas.
The group worked with Humane Borders to clean up a small portion of desert along a migrant trail outside of Tucson and did a full-day educational experience through BorderLinks in Nogales, Sonora. During the day in Nogales, the group visited the border wall, met with officials of the Mexican federal agency Grupo Beta, interviewed men, women and children who had recently been deported from the U.S. to Mexico, heard presentations on border health and educational issues, and interviewed Nogales residents and business owners about immigration issues.
The group also enjoyed a tour of the University of Arizona campus led by U of A alumna Dr. Van Bodegraven, a visit to the Living Desert Museum and San Xavier del Bac Mission, and a presentation by Elon alumna Kelly McCarty, a graduate student at Arizona State University who reported on her work with Las Otras Hermanas, a social justice organization for women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Molly Costigan will reflect on the group’s experiences during Chapel on Thursday, October 29.
The group thanks the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and Elon’s chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for their support.