McDaniel students built houses in Guatemala and explored intellectual enlightenment in London during two Jan Term classes offered for the first time this year.

Volunteer in Guatemala

Nineteen students built three houses in the mountains of Quetzaltenango with Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village.

“I've always been interested in getting involved with Habitat for Humanity and traveling outside of the States to do volunteer work, so the 'Volunteer in Guatemala' trip seemed perfect,” says Tara Stack ’09. “It was an amazing feeling to realize that a little bit of your time can accomplish something huge in the eyes of another.”

With 300,000 people, the city of Quetzaltenango is the second largest in Guatemala. The country’s residents speak more than 20 indigenous languages.

Students worked in teams of seven, each led by a paid contractor. They sifted sand to make cement, laid blocks, and installed metal reinforcement bars.

“On all three sites, our students were working hard, and in fact, sometimes wanted to do more than they were able to do,” says English lecturer William Spence.

Frequently, families who would be receiving the simple concrete homes topped with tin roofs helped to build the house.

“On our last day, we celebrated with the entire family for whom we were building the house,” says Stacy Fitzwater ’07. “It was then that we really saw and felt the impact of the work we'd been doing. The family was so grateful. Spending time with them and hearing their words just added to the tremendous sense of accomplishment that came from seeing a near-finished house, which was merely a trench when we first arrived.”

Enlightenment, philosophy, science and literature

The 10 students who traveled to London had a very different experience, touring London’s museums while learning about the era of Enlightenment, for which London was the intellectual center.

“If you look back at early enlightenment, the foundation of science is not through scientific method but through classifying everything,” says Peter Bradley, assistant professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies. “People thought, ‘If you classify everything, you can figure everything out.’”

Students examined botanist Carl Linnaeus’ collection of plants and animals collected 300 years ago. They visited the Royal Society -- UK’s national academy of science, and saw medical anomalies at the Royal College of Physicians.

“My all time favorite was the Royal College of Physicians,” says science major Eric Lemmon ’10. “I love medical anomalies, of which there were plenty. Also, the videos of surgery we observed were quite interesting.”

Students also had the opportunity for extensive touring; they explored the city via the London Underground, shopped at Camden Markets and reenacted the crossing of Abbey Road as the Beatles first did on the cover of their legendary album of the same name.