Winter Trip Deadline is Monday!

Monday, December 10, is the registration deadline for all January Immersion/EBP trips through the University YMCA. Keep in mind that friends who attend other universities and colleges are welcome to participate in these trips!

All participants should plan to attend a required orientation meeting at the University YMCA (1801 University Ave SE) on Monday, December 10, at 9:00 p.m. Some paperwork and $100 will secure your spot. The U-Y is able to accept cash, checks, and credit cards.

Sign up for January trips!

This photo is from our fall retreat to Camp Warren in Eveleth, Minnesota. This shot was taken right after we mastered the low ropes course. Well, "mastered" might be a stretch!

Now's the time to register for a January trip! We are still recruiting for the trips to New York, Seattle/Vancouver, New Orleans, and the Bay Area. Send us an e-mail or stop by the U-Y for an application!

Katrina Disaster Relief - My Immersion Experience

I didn't know what to expect when I got into Louisiana. There was a part of me that assumed a lot of New Orleans would be rebuilt based on what I saw in the media. Well, I was very wrong. Even in neighboring cities, the damage was incredible. Families forced to leave buildings they once called home, now lay as nothing but foundation. It was an eye-opening experience going on the Immersion/EBP trip down south. We spent time in a near by city distributing food and supplies at a local church. We also spent time rebuilding the church by replacing dry wall, roofing materials, and installing windows. Our group then spent time working with a volunteer group called Common Ground. We stayed overnight in a run down school building in the upper 9th ward of New Orleans, and then during the day we worked in the lower 9th ward mowing lawns and picking up debris. Picking up debris was unbelievable because there were so many personal items discovered such as photographs and ID's.

Being in New Orleans for spring break was an invaluable experience because I finally saw and heard the truth about the situation post-Hurricane Katrina. I couldn't have spent my spring break time in a better way. From my experience in New Orleans I became inspired to become more actively involved in the Immersion/EBP program. Now I am one of the program coordinators, and my personal mission is to have participants come back reflecting on their own eye-opening experience.

I am also co-leading the winter break trip to Costa Rica with Dustin Dresser. I look forward to bringing my travel experience abroad to help the trip run smoothly while getting a lot of work done to help the communities within Costa Rica. This program is a great opportunity to experience something different during school breaks and give back to the community. Hope you all can participate in this program. Pura vida!

-Eric Garvey
Program Coordinator
Psych Major & Management Minor
Class of '08

My-Immersion

My Y-Immersion started last spring break 2007 when I went to New Orleans for hurricane relief work. I was shocked to see that even after a year and a half after the storm the city is still in shambles. Our volunteer work further proved that much help is still needed. We volunteered at a church helping make food packs for displaced New Orleans residents and we also helped do a neighborhood clean up in the ninth ward. Working in the ninth ward was unreal because in some areas there were no houses, just overgrown prairie grasses and trash from the storm that was scattered all over the lots. Participating in this trip really helped me realize that even in our own country there are areas that scarcely resemble a first world country.

From this experience and previous travel experience I decided this year to be a coordinator for the Y-Immersion program and lead my own trip to Costa Rica. I think travelling at this age is the best time to travel because you are young and you can really learn a lot about yourself and your world before you graduate and start working full time. Lots of times time spent abroad will help you determine what you want to do after graduation or help you decide on a major. After graduation in May 2008 I hope to do a lot more travelling and even live abroad for a few years.

I look forward to training many trip leaders this year and look forward to them leading their trips and exposing more young people to important social and environmental issues that often get overlooked in the fast paced environment of college. Y-Immersion a great opportunity that I think everyone should experience.

Tell Us About Your Immersion Experience

Ciera Loehrer
My first experience with the Immersion program at the University YMCA was the spring of 2006. I decided to travel to New York to study art and how it relates to social justice issues. It was my first time ever to New York and I loved it. We talked to the education department in the city and how art is needed within school. We visited tons of museums, from the Guggenheim to small street museums. We talked with a rapper and he took us on a tour of New York and talked a little about the music world within New York. We saw graffiti and learned of the history of it and how graffiti as an art form, is in itself a social movement. Through my own art work I have been working on a multiply of projects that portrait the issue of child abuse and neglect, which I lead of trip to Denver, Colorado studying the prevention of child abuse and neglect the spring of 2007.
Leading a trip to Denver was an amazing experience that taught me a lot about myself and what is out there in aiding and helping out with the prevention of child abuse/neglect. On our trip we got to pick the brains of some of the biggest child abuse prevention organizations in Denver. Some like the Tennyson Center, Comitis Crisis Center, Denver’s Children’s Advocacy Center, Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, Colorado Children’s Trust Fund, Social Work Department of the School System, The Kempe Center, and FACES (Family Advocacy Care Education & Support). Through these organization we experienced the legal side of the fight against child abuse and neglect, we also experienced the educational side of the issue. We volunteered our time at the Tennyson Center and played with some of the children that are being housed there. This trip inspired me to do more.
That is why I am now coordinatoring the Immersion program with my fellow coordinators Eric and Dustin. I hope that as a coordinator I can teach others on how to lead successful trips that give them the inspiration to do more, be that with the Immersion program, University YMCA, or eslewhere. I also hope that those who go on these trips this year will learn more about the different social justice issues that are out there and while doing that learn more about themselves as well. Here's to a new experience and a new year with Immersion. Hope that you can join us!

Welcome to the new Immersion/EBP Blog

This is a blog about the Immersion/Environmental Backpacking Program at the University YMCA on the University of Minnesota campus. The Immersion/EBP program offers alternative break trips over winter, spring, and summer breaks. Each trip offers students the chance to travel, to explore a social justice or environmental issue, to serve the community that they visit, and to bring their experiences back to youth in Minneapolis/St. Paul. All trips are student led, and we are currently recruiting trip leaders for 2008 trips. E-mail uyimmersion@gmail.com for more information and an application.

The Immersion/EBP staff for 2007-2008 includes three coordinators. They are:

Dustin Dresser, Ciera Loehrer, and Eric Garvey