Elizabethtown College Students Travel to Vietnam for Service Trip

A group of Elizabethtown College students traveled to Vietnam from May 31 to June 16 with staff from the local Elizabethtown non-profit Brittany’s Hope (Helping Orphans Prosper Everywhere) to provide support to underserved Vietnamese communities and gain unique field experience.

The travelers included 18 Etown students, along with 10 adult volunteers from Brittany’s Hope, and Etown faculty leaders. Occupational Therapy and Social Work majors participated in this year’s trip.

“This service trip to Vietnam was an opportunity for me to make a meaningful impact while also growing as a future occupational therapist,” Occupational Therapy major Samantha Kellerman ’28 said. “Working with the different communities helped me build stronger compassion, cultural awareness and adaptability that I know will shape the way I work with others in my future career.”

During the trip, the group visited multiple orphanages to work with children and assist staff, including the Ha Tinh Village Children’s Home. Etown OT students exercised their clinical skills, training with occupational and physical therapy practitioners at various orphanages. The group also enhanced their cross-cultural communication skills, navigating a language barrier while engaging with the children and local care teams.

The group accompanied children and young adults from the Vietnamese non-profits, House of Love Children’s Home and Da Nang Red Cross Vocational Training Center, on two excursions to a local beach, providing an opportunity for participants to experience a coastal outing in an inclusive and supportive environment. Food packages, bicycles, water pumps, fertilizer, and more than 1,000 Durian trees were also distributed among various communities.

In tandem with community members and with assistance from construction staff, the group began the process of building 12 community houses for children with mental and physical disabilities and their families, as well as planting fruit trees and assisting in the installation of fencing. The group also delivered bunk beds, wardrobes, and bookshelves to a local children’s home.

“This opportunity holds major significance not only for my future career as an occupational therapist but also for who I am now,” Occupational Therapy major Alexa Knapp ’28 said. “It allowed me to make a meaningful impact on young lives that need it while they help shape me into a more compassionate and understanding person.”

The trip takes place every two years, with this year’s trip led by Erica Wentzel, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy; Kristin Kurjiaka, Assistant Teaching Professor of Social Work and Field Education Director; and Sue Friguglietti, Assistant Teaching Professor of Occupational Therapy. The tradition began in 2007, spearheaded by Peggy McFarland, Etown Professor of Social Work Emerita, in conjunction with Brittany’s Hope.

“There is no classroom that can replicate what happens when a student sits beside a child, works with a family building their home, or plants a tree in soil that is not their own,” Wentzel said. “Service has a way of teaching us things about ourselves that no lecture ever could, and I cannot wait to witness that growth in our students.”