It is no secret that service is a BIG part of being an Eagle and an Honors student ldquoPublic Servicerdquo and ldquoCivic Responsibilityrdquo are included in our Universityrsquos mission and

ldquoCommunity Engagementrdquo is an Honorrsquos Element and oh yeah therersquos also a service-learning graduation requirement Howev-er students in FGCUrsquos Honors College are not viewing service as a requirement but insteadhellipa valued OPPORTUNITY This year the Honors College sponsored two outstanding service trips an Immersion Weekend in Immokalee FL and a course and service trip to Zuni NM Read what students have to say about their service experiences on these trips in this edition of the Nerdy Bird Newsletter Get ready to be inspired Then think about how YOU may want to get involved in service in the southwest Florida community andor beyond Consider taking an Honors Service Lab course (IDS 4638C) participate in campus-wide service events such as Make A Difference Day or create your own experience by finding a community part-ner through the Office of Service-Learning agency database (Tip visit wwwfgcueduconnect and select ldquoFind and Agencyrdquo under the blue Service-Learning drop down box) You too can discover your passion and what you can accomplish when

delving into service-learning

Jessica RheaSenior Director Experiential Learning and Career Developmentjrheafgcuedu 239-590-7015

Upcoming Events

Honors Houses Info SessionThursday April 11th Reed 153 1030am

Honors Awards amp Pinning Ceremony

Monday April 15th Cohen Ballroom 500pm

Honors Graduation CeremonyFriday May 3rd

Cohen Ballroom

Honors Student Research Symposium

Wednesday amp Thursday April 17-18th Cohen 213

V01 N03

Community Engagement

April 2019

1

Nerdy Bird NewsThe

2048 miles separate Immokalee Florida and Zuni New Mexico however this spring Honors students spent time immersed in both locations learning about the cultures and providing service to the communities that surprisingly have more in common than imagined

About a 45-minute drive from FGCU is the small unincorporated town of Immokalee To most people in the general population Immokalee is a town they have never heard of Those in Southwest Florida may have heard of Immokalee but may fail to recog-nize the importance of this small town For decades this town has been the home to migrant farmworkers These workers pick and package fruits and vegetables that feed people and fill supermarkets around the country

2

Google Maps

Community Engagement Near and Away

Immokalee Fl

The Honors Immokalee Immersion Service Trip allows FGCU Honors students the ability to immerse themselves in the town of Immokalee over the course of a weekend Students on this trip visit and volunteer at numerous locations through-out the town that allow them to learn about the unique culture of Immokalee and the difficulties that come with being a farmworker Here are some of the locations

and activities that I personally visited and participated in during the Im-mokalee Immersion Service Trip over the past two years that Irsquove been on this trip

One of the central and most important locations that we visited during the Immersion Trip is the Coalition of

Immokalee Workers headquarters This group has been essential in the fight for basic human rights of farmworkers as well as fighting sexual abuse and poor pay in the fields At this location students dis-cussed the changes the CIW has brought to Immokalee We also got the opportuni-ty to volunteer doing a number of jobs that ranged from gardening to office work

On my second trip to Immokalee we got the opportunity to volunteer at the St Mathews House This location offers a variety of valuable services to the people of Immokalee such as a thrift store medical services shelter and meals to the neediest people of Immokalee Here we helped organize racks of clothing at their huge thrift store organized the hygiene supplies closet and packed 97 hygiene packs for the homeless

Another integral part of the trip includes the popular Ciclovia Immokalee com-munity event Families from Immokalee come together at the Community Park to

3

Immokalee Crew at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

spend the morning with their kids playing in organized activities participating in raffles obtaining information regarding to job opportunities and healthcare and so much more Our group spent the Saturday morning setting up and leading the chil-drenrsquos games This gave us the chance to create a relationship with the actual people of Immokalee by spending time with the children and making sure they had fun doing physical activities as opposed to watching TV or playing video games Also this year was the first year we purposefully had Honors students on the trip who were also members of Global Medical Brigades (GMB) During Ciclovia the GMB students provided free blood pressure screenings to the community

While the farmworkers pick the fruits and vegetables in the fields the individuals in the pack-ing houses of Immokalee also play an important role in the distribu-tion of those goods across the country

The past two years we have visited the Lipman Packing House to witness firsthand how an operation of this massive scale is conducted From the rows of conveyor belts where good tomatoes are sorted from the bad tomatoes to the ripening rooms to the conveyor belts where the tomatoes are packed into their respective containers this process is truly astonishing to witness

The City As Texttrade Activity allowed students in the Immokalee Immersion Service Trip to truly immerse themselves in the community and culture of Immokalee This activity was new to the program this year Students divided themselves into groups and walked around the main street of Immokalee visited the different local restau-

4

Global Medical Brigade Honors students amp Staff Advisor Rachel Walter providing blood pressure screenings at Ciclovia Immokalee Madison Ray

rant and stores and got the op-portunity to speak to the locals about their daily lives I per-sonally visited a local ice cream shop a party store (that can put party city to shame) and a grocery store with products not normally seen in chain grocery stores City as Texttrade excursions allow participants to explore an area using all their senses so they can draw their own con-clusions and make observations free of preconceived notions

A visit to the local Flea Market and Farmerrsquos Market has also been a staple in the trip This gives students another opportu-nity to further their knowledge about the culture of Immokalee Here we walked around and purchased a number of prod-ucts and foods that are popular in Immokalee such as Elotes and Horchata Both this activity

and the City as Texttrade excursion allowed us to give back to the city

of Immokalee by helping the local economy and local business owners

In order to understand the culture of Immokalee students must also understand the full history of the town The Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch gave us that chance This was also a new addition to the trip this year We learned how Immokalee was formed by the earliest of settlers in Southwest Florida and how it has transformed to the agricultural hub that it is today We walked through

Mural depicting the history of Immokalee at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Madison Ray

5

buildings that show firsthand how those settlers lived in the earliest days of Immokalee

Apart from the many locations we visited our experience continued throughout the evening at the Bethel Retreat Center where we stayed the night It is here that we got a chance to shift from learning about Immokalee to learning about ourselves and others within the group This allowed

us to create long lasting relation-ships We also had educational sessions dedicated to discussing the things we have noticed and learned throughout the day what the community can do to improve Immokalee and the struggles of farmworkers

Most importantly throughout the trip we discussed how we can take what we have learned back to FGCU and continue doing service related to Immokalee Many of us have joined the Student Farmworkers Alliance (SFA) to raise aware-ness for farmworkers and actually participate in demonstrations with the CIW Some members from the trip went with the CIW to New York last year to protest while others this year went with the SFA to UF to protest Others partnered to write research papers on the struggles of farmworkers and Immokalee The topics they spoke about included sexual abuse in the fields human trafficking modern day slavery children working in the fields children dropping out of school and so much more

This shows how we have been touched and influenced during the trip to do more To take our passion back to FGCU and continue to fight for Immokalee We ex-tended our weekend trip into something meaningful and long lasting

Leslie Urgelles2019 Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Student Leader

Forensic Studies amp Criminal Justice Major Anthropology Minor

Class of 2020 Fall

Scenery at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum Madison Ray

6

The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

The Honors Immokalee Immersion Service Trip allows FGCU Honors students the ability to immerse themselves in the town of Immokalee over the course of a weekend Students on this trip visit and volunteer at numerous locations through-out the town that allow them to learn about the unique culture of Immokalee and the difficulties that come with being a farmworker Here are some of the locations

and activities that I personally visited and participated in during the Im-mokalee Immersion Service Trip over the past two years that Irsquove been on this trip

One of the central and most important locations that we visited during the Immersion Trip is the Coalition of

Immokalee Workers headquarters This group has been essential in the fight for basic human rights of farmworkers as well as fighting sexual abuse and poor pay in the fields At this location students dis-cussed the changes the CIW has brought to Immokalee We also got the opportuni-ty to volunteer doing a number of jobs that ranged from gardening to office work

On my second trip to Immokalee we got the opportunity to volunteer at the St Mathews House This location offers a variety of valuable services to the people of Immokalee such as a thrift store medical services shelter and meals to the neediest people of Immokalee Here we helped organize racks of clothing at their huge thrift store organized the hygiene supplies closet and packed 97 hygiene packs for the homeless

Another integral part of the trip includes the popular Ciclovia Immokalee com-munity event Families from Immokalee come together at the Community Park to

3

Immokalee Crew at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

spend the morning with their kids playing in organized activities participating in raffles obtaining information regarding to job opportunities and healthcare and so much more Our group spent the Saturday morning setting up and leading the chil-drenrsquos games This gave us the chance to create a relationship with the actual people of Immokalee by spending time with the children and making sure they had fun doing physical activities as opposed to watching TV or playing video games Also this year was the first year we purposefully had Honors students on the trip who were also members of Global Medical Brigades (GMB) During Ciclovia the GMB students provided free blood pressure screenings to the community

While the farmworkers pick the fruits and vegetables in the fields the individuals in the pack-ing houses of Immokalee also play an important role in the distribu-tion of those goods across the country

The past two years we have visited the Lipman Packing House to witness firsthand how an operation of this massive scale is conducted From the rows of conveyor belts where good tomatoes are sorted from the bad tomatoes to the ripening rooms to the conveyor belts where the tomatoes are packed into their respective containers this process is truly astonishing to witness

The City As Texttrade Activity allowed students in the Immokalee Immersion Service Trip to truly immerse themselves in the community and culture of Immokalee This activity was new to the program this year Students divided themselves into groups and walked around the main street of Immokalee visited the different local restau-

4

Global Medical Brigade Honors students amp Staff Advisor Rachel Walter providing blood pressure screenings at Ciclovia Immokalee Madison Ray

rant and stores and got the op-portunity to speak to the locals about their daily lives I per-sonally visited a local ice cream shop a party store (that can put party city to shame) and a grocery store with products not normally seen in chain grocery stores City as Texttrade excursions allow participants to explore an area using all their senses so they can draw their own con-clusions and make observations free of preconceived notions

A visit to the local Flea Market and Farmerrsquos Market has also been a staple in the trip This gives students another opportu-nity to further their knowledge about the culture of Immokalee Here we walked around and purchased a number of prod-ucts and foods that are popular in Immokalee such as Elotes and Horchata Both this activity

and the City as Texttrade excursion allowed us to give back to the city

of Immokalee by helping the local economy and local business owners

In order to understand the culture of Immokalee students must also understand the full history of the town The Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch gave us that chance This was also a new addition to the trip this year We learned how Immokalee was formed by the earliest of settlers in Southwest Florida and how it has transformed to the agricultural hub that it is today We walked through

Mural depicting the history of Immokalee at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Madison Ray

5

buildings that show firsthand how those settlers lived in the earliest days of Immokalee

Apart from the many locations we visited our experience continued throughout the evening at the Bethel Retreat Center where we stayed the night It is here that we got a chance to shift from learning about Immokalee to learning about ourselves and others within the group This allowed

us to create long lasting relation-ships We also had educational sessions dedicated to discussing the things we have noticed and learned throughout the day what the community can do to improve Immokalee and the struggles of farmworkers

Most importantly throughout the trip we discussed how we can take what we have learned back to FGCU and continue doing service related to Immokalee Many of us have joined the Student Farmworkers Alliance (SFA) to raise aware-ness for farmworkers and actually participate in demonstrations with the CIW Some members from the trip went with the CIW to New York last year to protest while others this year went with the SFA to UF to protest Others partnered to write research papers on the struggles of farmworkers and Immokalee The topics they spoke about included sexual abuse in the fields human trafficking modern day slavery children working in the fields children dropping out of school and so much more

This shows how we have been touched and influenced during the trip to do more To take our passion back to FGCU and continue to fight for Immokalee We ex-tended our weekend trip into something meaningful and long lasting

Leslie Urgelles2019 Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Student Leader

Forensic Studies amp Criminal Justice Major Anthropology Minor

Class of 2020 Fall

Scenery at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum Madison Ray

6

The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

spend the morning with their kids playing in organized activities participating in raffles obtaining information regarding to job opportunities and healthcare and so much more Our group spent the Saturday morning setting up and leading the chil-drenrsquos games This gave us the chance to create a relationship with the actual people of Immokalee by spending time with the children and making sure they had fun doing physical activities as opposed to watching TV or playing video games Also this year was the first year we purposefully had Honors students on the trip who were also members of Global Medical Brigades (GMB) During Ciclovia the GMB students provided free blood pressure screenings to the community

While the farmworkers pick the fruits and vegetables in the fields the individuals in the pack-ing houses of Immokalee also play an important role in the distribu-tion of those goods across the country

The past two years we have visited the Lipman Packing House to witness firsthand how an operation of this massive scale is conducted From the rows of conveyor belts where good tomatoes are sorted from the bad tomatoes to the ripening rooms to the conveyor belts where the tomatoes are packed into their respective containers this process is truly astonishing to witness

The City As Texttrade Activity allowed students in the Immokalee Immersion Service Trip to truly immerse themselves in the community and culture of Immokalee This activity was new to the program this year Students divided themselves into groups and walked around the main street of Immokalee visited the different local restau-

4

Global Medical Brigade Honors students amp Staff Advisor Rachel Walter providing blood pressure screenings at Ciclovia Immokalee Madison Ray

rant and stores and got the op-portunity to speak to the locals about their daily lives I per-sonally visited a local ice cream shop a party store (that can put party city to shame) and a grocery store with products not normally seen in chain grocery stores City as Texttrade excursions allow participants to explore an area using all their senses so they can draw their own con-clusions and make observations free of preconceived notions

A visit to the local Flea Market and Farmerrsquos Market has also been a staple in the trip This gives students another opportu-nity to further their knowledge about the culture of Immokalee Here we walked around and purchased a number of prod-ucts and foods that are popular in Immokalee such as Elotes and Horchata Both this activity

and the City as Texttrade excursion allowed us to give back to the city

of Immokalee by helping the local economy and local business owners

In order to understand the culture of Immokalee students must also understand the full history of the town The Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch gave us that chance This was also a new addition to the trip this year We learned how Immokalee was formed by the earliest of settlers in Southwest Florida and how it has transformed to the agricultural hub that it is today We walked through

Mural depicting the history of Immokalee at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Madison Ray

5

buildings that show firsthand how those settlers lived in the earliest days of Immokalee

Apart from the many locations we visited our experience continued throughout the evening at the Bethel Retreat Center where we stayed the night It is here that we got a chance to shift from learning about Immokalee to learning about ourselves and others within the group This allowed

us to create long lasting relation-ships We also had educational sessions dedicated to discussing the things we have noticed and learned throughout the day what the community can do to improve Immokalee and the struggles of farmworkers

Most importantly throughout the trip we discussed how we can take what we have learned back to FGCU and continue doing service related to Immokalee Many of us have joined the Student Farmworkers Alliance (SFA) to raise aware-ness for farmworkers and actually participate in demonstrations with the CIW Some members from the trip went with the CIW to New York last year to protest while others this year went with the SFA to UF to protest Others partnered to write research papers on the struggles of farmworkers and Immokalee The topics they spoke about included sexual abuse in the fields human trafficking modern day slavery children working in the fields children dropping out of school and so much more

This shows how we have been touched and influenced during the trip to do more To take our passion back to FGCU and continue to fight for Immokalee We ex-tended our weekend trip into something meaningful and long lasting

Leslie Urgelles2019 Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Student Leader

Forensic Studies amp Criminal Justice Major Anthropology Minor

Class of 2020 Fall

Scenery at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum Madison Ray

6

The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

rant and stores and got the op-portunity to speak to the locals about their daily lives I per-sonally visited a local ice cream shop a party store (that can put party city to shame) and a grocery store with products not normally seen in chain grocery stores City as Texttrade excursions allow participants to explore an area using all their senses so they can draw their own con-clusions and make observations free of preconceived notions

A visit to the local Flea Market and Farmerrsquos Market has also been a staple in the trip This gives students another opportu-nity to further their knowledge about the culture of Immokalee Here we walked around and purchased a number of prod-ucts and foods that are popular in Immokalee such as Elotes and Horchata Both this activity

and the City as Texttrade excursion allowed us to give back to the city

of Immokalee by helping the local economy and local business owners

In order to understand the culture of Immokalee students must also understand the full history of the town The Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch gave us that chance This was also a new addition to the trip this year We learned how Immokalee was formed by the earliest of settlers in Southwest Florida and how it has transformed to the agricultural hub that it is today We walked through

Mural depicting the history of Immokalee at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Madison Ray

5

buildings that show firsthand how those settlers lived in the earliest days of Immokalee

Apart from the many locations we visited our experience continued throughout the evening at the Bethel Retreat Center where we stayed the night It is here that we got a chance to shift from learning about Immokalee to learning about ourselves and others within the group This allowed

us to create long lasting relation-ships We also had educational sessions dedicated to discussing the things we have noticed and learned throughout the day what the community can do to improve Immokalee and the struggles of farmworkers

Most importantly throughout the trip we discussed how we can take what we have learned back to FGCU and continue doing service related to Immokalee Many of us have joined the Student Farmworkers Alliance (SFA) to raise aware-ness for farmworkers and actually participate in demonstrations with the CIW Some members from the trip went with the CIW to New York last year to protest while others this year went with the SFA to UF to protest Others partnered to write research papers on the struggles of farmworkers and Immokalee The topics they spoke about included sexual abuse in the fields human trafficking modern day slavery children working in the fields children dropping out of school and so much more

This shows how we have been touched and influenced during the trip to do more To take our passion back to FGCU and continue to fight for Immokalee We ex-tended our weekend trip into something meaningful and long lasting

Leslie Urgelles2019 Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Student Leader

Forensic Studies amp Criminal Justice Major Anthropology Minor

Class of 2020 Fall

Scenery at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum Madison Ray

6

The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

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buildings that show firsthand how those settlers lived in the earliest days of Immokalee

Apart from the many locations we visited our experience continued throughout the evening at the Bethel Retreat Center where we stayed the night It is here that we got a chance to shift from learning about Immokalee to learning about ourselves and others within the group This allowed

us to create long lasting relation-ships We also had educational sessions dedicated to discussing the things we have noticed and learned throughout the day what the community can do to improve Immokalee and the struggles of farmworkers

Most importantly throughout the trip we discussed how we can take what we have learned back to FGCU and continue doing service related to Immokalee Many of us have joined the Student Farmworkers Alliance (SFA) to raise aware-ness for farmworkers and actually participate in demonstrations with the CIW Some members from the trip went with the CIW to New York last year to protest while others this year went with the SFA to UF to protest Others partnered to write research papers on the struggles of farmworkers and Immokalee The topics they spoke about included sexual abuse in the fields human trafficking modern day slavery children working in the fields children dropping out of school and so much more

This shows how we have been touched and influenced during the trip to do more To take our passion back to FGCU and continue to fight for Immokalee We ex-tended our weekend trip into something meaningful and long lasting

Leslie Urgelles2019 Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Student Leader

Forensic Studies amp Criminal Justice Major Anthropology Minor

Class of 2020 Fall

Scenery at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum Madison Ray

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The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

The Pueblo of Zuni is like no other Located in western New Mexico Zuni is one of the 19 pueblo reservations and is home to thousands of kind and generous people As part of the honors course IDH 2931 The Zuni Pueblo - Perspectives and Cul-ture 7 honors students had the opportunity to learn through their service and to

experience life in Zuni during spring break We provided ser-vice throughout the communi-ty including historic site trail maintenance tribal road main-tenance working with students at a school cleaning up in the Middle Village (the historic and religious center of the commu-nity) gardening work planting and learning from elders at the Senior Center and patching ceremonial clay outdoor ovens In the process we learned about cultural and language issues political and community issues from Tribal Council members teen health and mental health in a tour of the Teen Health Cen-ter and from a nurse from the Gallup Indian Medical Center history through our tour of the Old Mission Church Hawikuh the Middle Village and through

our interactions with communi-ty members and religion from a speaker who practices both the Zuni religion and Catholicism at the same time

The group began the week in Zuni cleaning up Hawikuh the largest of the Zuni

7

Zuni group at El Morro Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

Zuni NM

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

pueblos during the time of the Spanish conquistadors During the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Hawikuh was destroyed Today all that remains are extensive ruins The Zuni Visitor center allows tours of Hawikuh through a trail around the ruins We helped maintain the trail pulling weeds and placing artifacts where they be-long Among these artifacts are pottery pieces that date back to the 1500s Ancestry is a very important aspect of the Zuni culture The Zunis take immense pride in their ancestors and their history Everyone we spoke to knew of the origin stories reciting it exactly the same each time Maintaining this historic site is extremely important to them as it is where the ancestors began

We also helped with maintenance of the tribal roads and the transportation depart-ment We cleared storage units on one side of the transportation facility to make room for a garage to house more buses for the community Within Zuni there is only one marketplace for groceries and limited opportu-nities for education and medical treatment The people of Zuni rely on cities outside of the reservation for grocery shop-ping clothing attending college and university and much more Transportation services are es-sential and our work helped in at least a small way the expan-sion of these services and the accompanying opportunities

We observed the intersection of the Zuni religion and Catholicism while we provided service at St Anthony Indian School a Catholic school on the reservation

Zuni group with Vernalita Vincenti discussing Catholicism and the Zuni Religion Luis Garrido Trip Co-Leader

8

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

Check out this highlight video to gain more insight into the Zuni Pueblo spring 2019 trip

We assisted the teachers and students with assignments and shared with the older children about college and how to apply and find scholarships Some of us read to the children about the Everglades and they were most interested to know more about alligators

While cleaning up the Old Mission Church located in the Middle Village of Zuni we learned more about the history of the tribe The church was constructed by Spanish missionaries in 1630 with aims of converting the Zunis The church was burned during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt but reconstructed in 1776 Around the 1800s the church was abandoned In the 1960s the Zuni Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began the reconstruction of the church with unique murals of Zuni Kachinas along the walls

Within Zuni there are many health-related resources such as the Teen and Wellness Center and the Senior Center We had the chance to provide service at the Senior Center with their Indian taco fundraiser to support participation in the Senior

Olympics and planting flow-ers and corn along the pe-rimeter of the center We also had a chance to learn more about language

and cultural issues from the seniors The Teen and Wellness Center provides medi-cal care and mental health counseling for the community

Our last service project was one in which we experienced part of what it is like to be Zuni The Zunis have ovens made out of clay mud and straw in which they bake Zuni bread largely for ceremonial purposes We helped restore the ovens patching up deterioration with the clay mixture we created Although it may sound easy it definitely is not and it took us time to learn the process Women are the only ones who may build the ovens which are large and require a lot of mud straw and time to construct

9

The Zunis are very religious people Although they seem to be more open to outsiders than some other tribes they hold many of their religious practices and customs private Being able to immerse ourselves in their culture was eye open-ing Although Zuni has a low socioeconomic status we observed that the Zunis are proud of their heritage and community and they were very hospitable to our group There are leaders taking action and developing programs to target issues within the community They are dedicated and committed to igniting change We learned that many Zunis leave their community whether to get an education or start a life somewhere else and then they come back with a desire for belonging and a sense of purpose to help their community Theirs is a collective culture and they seem to gain energy from one another This was inspiring to our group as it is very different from mainstream US culture

Immersing yourself into a culture completely different from your own is one of the most important experiences you can ever have and we are grateful for the op-portunity through the Honors College Experiences like this one provide oppor-tunities to learn about the perspectives of another culture their culture and lan-guage ways in which they are viewed and treated from outsiders daily lives and struggles and their cultural and religious beliefs Experiences like this help us to build respect for diverse perspectives and perceptions including shared customs beliefs values and attitudes Our experiences in Zuni changed all of us in signifi-cant and varied ways and has helped us shift our focus to creating positive change in our own communities

Students Jaylin Rodriguez Kelly Rico and Professor Dr Debra Giambo

Dr Giambo will be teaching the Zuni course again in Spring 2020 and the Honors College will return to Immokalee in Spring 2020

for its Annual Immokalee Immersion Service Trip Stay tuned for more info

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