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• Mission Trip RECAP

PHOTOS: Mission Trip to Pascagoula, MS

Pascagoula, Mississippi is the destination for 12 Catawba College students who will participate in a mission building trip during part of their Christmas break, December 13-19. Catawba Chemistry Professor Dr. Mark Sabo organized the trip which is co-sponsored by the College and his church, First Presbyterian Church in Salisbury.

The students will help with rebuilding efforts still ongoing after the 2005 visit of Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast. It will be the fifth such trip that Catawba students have taken with Sabo and volunteers from his church.

The students paid $50 each to help underwrite the trip costs. They will travel by van and will be housed in Sunday school rooms at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Pascagoula. The construction projects they will assist with are being scheduled through St. Johns Episcopal Church and First Presbyterian Church in Pascagoula. A day trip to New Orleans is also planned so students can survey the damage which still remains in that city.

While on the trip, the Catawba students will share accounts of their experiences and photographs in this blog.

Catawba student participating in the trip include senior Kenzie Brogden of Wilmington, freshman Sarah Devlin of Candler, senior Catherine Goodnight of Salisbury, junior Katie Hill of Fayetteville, senior Terri Hill of Lexington, senior David Idol of Kernersville, freshman Joshua Owens of Mt. Pleasant, sophomore Sarah Robinson of Cartersville, Va., freshman Stephen Ross of Fallston, Md., senior Megan Spidell of Salisbury, senior Brittany Tyner of Cameron, and freshman Amanda Williams of Indian Trail. Two other non-Catawba students who will participate in the trip include Matt Sabo of Salisbury, a freshman at Alma College in Michigan, and Matt Lerch of Haslett, Michigan, a sophomore at Central Michigan University. In addition to Dr. Sabo, other adults making the trip include Bob Harris, the construction manager who is "semi" retired from Piedmont Footings in Salisbury, and Mike Johnston, a construction supervisor who is a retired firefighter and EMT from Haslett, Michigan.