Students who were not lucky enough to travel to a warm climate during this past winter break have a chance to do so during next school year's winter break service trip to Kingston, Jamaica.

The annual trip is part of the "International Marquette Action Program," or IMAP, and is planned for Dec. 27 to Jan. 10, 2006. Interested students must apply by Feb. 11 to be considered.

The IMAP trip was started nine years ago after a student expressed interest in international service work, said the Rev. Patrick Dorsey, assistant director of University Ministry and the trip's organizer.

Approximately 50 undergraduate students apply each year, he said. There are a total of 11 spots available for undergraduates as well as six spots for dental students.

While in Jamaica, the dental students open temporary clinics, while the undergraduate students spend most of their time working at schools and day camps with children and at homes for the elderly, Dorsey said.

In addition, the undergraduate students assist dental students, he said.

On the first week of the trip, the students travel to the town of McIntyre, where they transform a vacant community center into a day camp for children ages 3 to 15, said Adam Hermsen, a senior in the College of Engineering.

"Some of the children had never even used paint before," said Laura Lanzerotti, a College of Business Administration junior. "They smeared it all over their faces. They were crazy kids just running around."

Hermsen and Lanzerotti were both part of the 2004-'05 IMAP trip, which lasted from Dec. 27, 2004 to Jan. 10.

Later in the trip, the students travel to Riverton City, a "shantytown" built in a garbage dump, Dorsey said.

There, the students work at a school for children in kindergarten through second grade, he said.

Other places the students visit include Mustard Seed, a home for the physically and mentally handicapped, and the Mother Theresa Home for the Elderly and Destitute.

Lanzerotti said one of the most memorable experiences she had in Jamaica was while working at the Mother Theresa Home.

There, she met a 9-year-old girl named Akeiba, who, like most children, enjoyed playing cards and braiding hair.

But Akeiba and her mother are homeless, currently seeking refuge at the home, she said.

"She has so little, and yet she takes such great care of the ladies at the home," Lanzerotti said.

Hermsen shared a similar experience with 15-year-old Ramone.

"One day, he asked me if I wanted to be his best friend," he said.

Both Lanzerotti and Hermsen said experiences such as these were "life-changing."

"Meeting people in a different culture who welcome you into their homes and hearts is an awe-inspiring experience," Dorsey said. "There's a peacefulness about it because I think it helps students put life into perspective."

The trip "makes you appreciate everything you have," Hermsen said.

"It's so different to be in another culture and walk the streets of the people who live in such poverty," Lanzerotti said. "Some days, I just wanted to cry. But at the day camp, they were just kids having fun."

The approximate cost of the trip is $1,300, which pays for room, board and transportation, Dorsey said.

For more information on the trip and to apply online, go to http://www.marquette.edu/um/serving/imap/index.htm.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 27 2005.