This past spring break I took a 10-day class trip to Guatemala as part of the Guatemala Public Health course available here at Monmouth University. I attended the trip with students Hope Avalone, Sneha Bupathi, Megan Conchar, Dominique Debari, Caroline Hesse, Kristina Pashkevitch, and Rachel Schwerd, along with our Professor, Dr. Chris Hirschler, Chair and Associate Professor of the Health Studies and Physical Education Department, and alum Leiry Paulino, who helped translate Spanish and brought donations. Guatemala Public Health, HE-376, includes training in class on a number of public health topics to prepare students before the trip to Guatemala, as well as creating a health lesson to teach at Nuevos Horizontes, a domestic violence shelter in Quetzaltenango, through articles, films, and discussion. During my short stay in Guatemala, our class travelled to many different cities. It was in three of those cities- Chichicastenango, Quetzaltenango, and Antigua- that I learned a big lesson about how I act towards people and looked at myself: little actions can create big outcomes.
