Each year Aquinas College offers students the opportunity to take part in service learning trips over fall and spring breaks. There are a few different trip options for interested students, but all of them have a focus on service and community. One such trip is to Nazareth Farm, a community built on four cornerstones - prayer, community, simplicity, and service.

Nazareth Farm is located in Salem, West Virginia and offers what student trip leader Kristina Krausman '11 calls, “a surprise, a really great surprise.” Krausman added that the trip is “radically different from life.”

Krausman described Nazareth Farm (sometimes referred to by students as Naz Farm) as “a place that’s focused on home repair.” But beyond the service involved, students get the opportunity to connect as a community with students from other colleges including the University of Notre Dame and St. Francis University. “Having community and praying with community is a really beautiful thing,” said Krausman.

Naz Farm is also unique because of the simple way of life on the farm. Krausman says that this trip requires, “giving all of yourself - you’re giving up your comfort.” When Krausman says that comfort may be forfeited for this trip, she means it. Not only are students not allowed to use cell phones while at the farm, they also shower outdoors with a bucket and live as simply as possible.

“It’s about stepping outside of what you’re used to,” says Krausman. She also added that students get “really involved in getting to know other people” both within the community itself and while out doing service for others.

Beyond the community and service involved in this trip, “there’s all the other stuff that’s really personal,” said Krausman, and that’s something that many students could find appealing about Nazareth Farm.

Krausman has been working with co-leader Erin Jenkins, as well as trip advisor Leisa Keenan and service learning coordinator Eric Bridge to plan this year’s trip to Nazareth Farm. Krausman, Jenkins, Keenan, and five other AQ students will be taking part in the service trip this fall.

According to Krausman, the Nazareth Farm service trip has helped her find her passion. “That’s why I’m seeking something with simplicity involved,” she said. Krausman is hoping to live in an intentional service community once she graduates with her degree in education in spring 2011.

“Something that I’m really passionate about is service,” she said. Her excitement for this trip comes from having attended three times already, “this will be time number four,” she recalled. Krausman hopes that students will continue to be passionate about Nazareth Farm and other service trips for a long time.

Nazareth Farm is not the only option for students wishing to participate in service learning trips this fall or over Spring Break.

“They’re all great!” Krausman said, “Each person has to find a trip that fits them.” She also added that the Nazareth Farm trip would be best for “people interested in community” and “exploring different opportunities.”