Marquette is planning a service learning trip to Guatemala this summer for students.

Five years ago, Dan Zitomer and Michelle Schuh, both professors at Marquette, formed Health Environment and Infrastructure in Latin America, or HEILA, to give students the opportunity to gain international service experience.

Each year, the group plans several service learning trips in which students visit a community and help those in need, said Zitomer, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.

The idea of service learning is to tie service with curriculum, he said.

"We want students to apply what they learn in the classroom in service," said John Borg, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering.

In the spirit of service learning, a group of Marquette students will travel to Guatemala from May 30 to June 10. While there, they will help to build a school, according to Lars Olson, associate professor of biomedical engineering.

"Predominantly, we walk with the people of Guatemala for a short time and develop a solidarity with them and their histories," he said.

Olson said the Guatemala trip will focus on service learning in biomedical and mechanical engineering and business.

Any student can apply for the trip, he said, because "we do so much more than just engineering or business service learning."

It is recommended that students going on the trip take a course to prepare themselves, Zitomer said.

The courses offered to students in correspondence with the trip include Civil and Environmental Engineering 188: Special Topics: Health Environment and Infrastructure in Latin America and CEEN 189: Senior Design, he said. Students interested in taking CEEN 188 next semester should contact Zitomer.

In CEEN 189, engineering students build prototypes of structures, such as bridges, which are then used to build actual structures during service-learning trips, Zitomer said.

In previous years, students have visited Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and have helped to build bridges, drinking water systems and even a community center, he said.

Last year, Cheryl Maranto, executive associate dean and associate professor in the management department, traveled to Guatemala with a group of students.

"It was a really great time and I learned a lot," she said. "It was also a very enjoyable and very enriching experience."

Olson said the estimated cost of the trip to Guatemala is $1,600.

Interested students can apply by visiting http://www.eng.mu.edu/pages/Home/Departments/Biomedical/News/Guatemala_Trip, he said. The deadline for applications is Dec. 17.

"This trip is not an easy holiday. There is physical work and discovering the outcomes of war, violence and martyrdom firsthand can be difficult," Olson said. "It is absolutely a wonderfully transformative experience, and it is a fantastic component of Marquette's mission of making us all men and women for others."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Dec. 7 2004.