Freshmen Study Immigration Through Service

Students in Rockhurst’s Freshmen Introduction to Business Seminar spent their last day of class Tuesday, Dec. 4, sorting household products, canned goods and school supplies. The collection was the result of a semester-long service project in which they gathered donations for Catholic Charities and the Refugee Resettlement program.

In the class, students learned refugees typically have the clothes on their backs and perhaps a small suitcase when they arrive from many countries from around the world. Refugee Resettlement provides them with a place to live, donations of items to get started, ESL classes and assistance with looking for a job. The donations collected by the students will help many people get settled in the Kansas City area. 

The purpose of this approach was to personalize the issues of illegal immigration and help students who think they want to major in business learn about the complexities of this topic in a meaningful way over the span of the semester.

Most of the items collected were your typical toothpaste and baked beans. But freshman Caleb Jameson was able to secure the donation of a vehicle for the project through a friend. While he hopes it can do someone some good, he believes it’s just as important to collect the food and household items.

“These are basic necessities that they don’t have,” he said. 

The project was coordinated with the University’s first-year experience program, which selected immigration as its theme for the year. The program featured guest speakers, classroom discussions and a reading project. Freshmen were asked to read Enrique’s Journey, by Sonia Nazario, which tells the story of a Honduran boy who came to the United States to look for his mother who had come here in search of higher wages.