As Stephanie Ivec got on Creighton’s 15-passenger van and prepared for the seven-hour drive to St. Francis Mission in Rosebud, S.D. with 10 strangers, she began to think:

“I don’t know these people. We went out for ice cream last night and this is the longest amount of time I have spent with them so far. Are they going to like me? Am I going to like them?”

What Ivec, Arts & Sciences sophomore, couldn’t see in the future were the people she would soon help, the children she would soon encourage, the culture she would soon experience and the strong bonds she would soon make. Soon enough, Ivec would realize, yes, she did make the right decision and would do her fall break service trip to a Native American reservation in South Dakota all over again if given the opportunity.

Ivec was one of 80 Creighton students to go on eight different fall break service trips to Wyoming, New Orleans, Chicago, Iowa, Oklahoma and Omaha.

The service trips, organized by the Creighton Center for Service and Justice, focus on seven pillars throughout the week – service, solidarity, justice, community, simplicity, stainability and reflection. Services that students participated in ranged from building houses to helping children.

With the focus of each service trip being the seven pillars, students aren’t allowed to bring homework, cell phones or iPods, but this didn’t bother Ivec.

The purpose of the trip is to build a strong bond with the people around you, she said. When you are with people you don’t know, your tendency is to text your friend under the table.

“It is so refreshing and enables you to focus completely on what you are doing,” Ivec said.

Following the simplicity pillar, everyone is asked to pack lightly and only bring what is necessary. Ivec and her group made a competition to see who could take the least amount of showers. The group also shared a communal bottle of shampoo.

At the end of each night, the group came together to reflect on the day’s activities. As the week progressed, Ivec realized that reflection time became longer as everyone became more comfortable around one another.

The pillar of solidarity is about unity with the people you are trying to help, Ivec said.

“It isn’t about ‘you are impoverished and we need to help you now,’ but it is about becoming one, seeing life through their eyes and understanding their lifestyle.”

And this is exactly what Ivec did. Through cultural events hosted by the White Buffalo Calf Women’s Society, a domestic violence shelter, Ivec learned the importance of tradition in the Lakota tribe. She also realized the Lakota tradition is losing against American culture in the younger generations. Ivec soon began to see the problems that the reservation faces, problems couldn’t be fixed in a week.

She also realized most children on the reservation are raised by grandparents and that most aren’t expected to go to college.

“In my family, there was never any question that I would go to college, but most high school youth on the reservation don’t have any plans to go to college,” she said. “They don’t even think they have that opportunity.”

During her service trip, she went to elementary and high schools along with a local Boys and Girls Club to play with the children and also to talk about college. What surprised her most was a true story brought up during reflection about a 12-year-old boy a group member overheard making a drug deal on his phone at the Boys and Girls Club.

“It opened my eyes. It makes you want to show these kids there are different ways, different opportunities,” Ivec said.

Ivec also realized the contrast between the high school students and the children at the Boys and Girls Club. The high school students were apathetic and didn’t care, while the children had so much life and hope, she said.

“You have to look at it and ask what happens to them as they grow older to change them. To take all this life and hope away,” Ivec said.

One girl Ivec will always remember was a nine-year-old girl who, in the middle of a water balloon fight, grabbed onto Ivec and said words that touched Ivec: “I like you. You are gentle.”

“It was a striking moment for me. It showed me how children don’t always have a good influence looking out for them. For her to sense that I am gentle and nice to her affected me. It proves that we made an impact there,” Ivec said.

To learn more about upcoming Spring Break Service trips go to creighton.edu/ministry/ccsj.