Spring Break pairs service with career-learning and community building
From health sciences to accounting, students not only boost their faith but also their career skills and cultural awareness.
From Staff Reports |
At Lipscomb, spring break doesn’t mean beach parties. For hundreds of Lipscomb Bisons, it means service.
During spring break 2025, more than 240 students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of Lipscomb served around the world to become the hands and feet of Jesus in eight international and one domestic mission locale.
Right in line with many of Lipscomb’s academic disciplines, service on these mission trips includes medical clinics, engineering projects, career training and work in public schools as well as partnering with ministry groups and many other projects.
"I am so impressed with our students," said Tyler Kemmerer, director of missions. "Over 200 of them chose to join mission teams this spring break and, like every year, the stories coming in are amazing. As Christians, we all understand that God is working throughout the world, but there's something about seeing it and participating in it that can be life changing. As one student put it, 'God is just bigger than everything that separates us.' Amen to that."
Assistant Professor Damian McClintock, who holds the credentials needed to train others in child-centered play therapy, trains counselors and teachers in Ghana, Africa.
Lipscomb's mission team members with psychology interns, volunteers and Stacy Payne, one of the psychological staff at The Pearl House.
A team of four students and two professors in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program traveled to Ghana, Africa, to partner will The Pearl House, a nonprofit residential and vocational school for vulnerable and abused 9- to 17-year-old girls, to provide training in Child-Centered Play Therapy for more than 80 local professionals and students. CCPT is a therapeutic approach for children aged 3 to 10 that uses play as a means for children to express their feelings and experiences.
Cozumel, Mexico
Accounting majors facilitated an internal audit for a local organization in the College of Business' Business With A Purpose mission trip to Cozumel, Mexico. The audit will better ensure financial accountability and strengthen operations.
Undergraduate students in Saba
School counseling students in Saba
Lipscomb has sent undergraduate missions teams to the Caribbean Island of Saba for 22 years. Students work with Sacred Heart School, Saba Comprehensive School, Child-Focus Foundation and the Saba Government to teach Bible classes, host family building events, provide community service and pour into the people of Saba. In March 2025, daily classes, service projects and afternoon and evening events filled the team’s schedule in order to spend time with the families and kids of all ages to foster new relationships and strengthen existing ones.
In addition, Lipscomb’s school counseling program launched its first international mission trip ever, with Lisa Davies, lead faculty for the school counseling program taking four students to Saba to provide lessons on social-emotional issues and to discuss anti-bullying with a "cultivating kindness" perspective. Middle and high school classroom lessons, individual sessions and a parent workshop were all presented by the team during the week.
Guatemala
Health Talents International team in Guatemala
Tokyo, Japan
One medical team traveled to Guatemala to serve the Q'eqchi' Mayans providing basic medical and dental care in the villages spread throughout the remote areas near Senahu, Alta Verapaz. The clinic site in Las Flores serves 12 surrounding communities. A second medical team traveled to Guatemala to work with Health Talents International providing health care.
A team from the animation program shot two short films for their local host organization in Tokyo. Students also had the opportunity to display their creative works at a Tokyo art exhibit at a community outreach center. Students connected with and learned from local churches and missionaries serving in Tokyo.
El Salvador
The spring break mission trip to El Salvador was the women's soccer team's 10th trip to El Salvador. The group partnered with Sports Outreach Impact with the team spending time investing in several developing communities by visiting an orphanage for those with special needs, teaching English classes, running soccer clinics and using the soccer ball as a vehicle to share the gospel everywhere they went.
New York City
Lipscomb's spring break trip to New York City partners with Shiloh NYC, a Christian not-for-profit organization with community programs that enrich the lives of youth physically, mentally and spiritually. Lipscomb's team partnered with Public School 179 to support the teachers, staff and students in their school day and connect them with the mission of Shiloh to equip New York City at-risk youth and their families with tools that build hope, confidence and the skills to attain their goals.
On the 2025 trip, Jillian Utley, a sophomore English education major from Nashville, was in a classroom with 3-year-olds and primarily helped the teacher with crafts and played with the children in activity centers. She colored with first-graders during recess and taught Spanish-speaking students English words.
“The first day we stepped into the school a lot of us noticed how different it was compared to the schools we are used to there,” said Utley. “We will never forget this awesome experience and it will be in our hearts forever!”