Skip to main content

AZ Trip Bios

Hello everyone!! We are about 1 day away from departure to Tuscon to begin our AZ Border ABST experience and we cannot be more excited. We are piloting this trip at Gannon and are so blessed with the opportunity we have been given.


Before the trip begins, we wanted to give a small introduction to the amazing group of people we will be taking this journey with.

 Let's start with the hard-working co-leaders of this trip.

Name: Emily DeStefano, Leader
Major: Occupational Therapy with a Psychology Minor
Hometown: Harrison City, PA
Past ABSTs: I went on an ABST last year as a participant to a L’Arche home in Queretaro, Mexico.
The experience was so life-changing that I applied to lead this trip and experience another adventure.
Why I am Excited: I am excited to be able to see what is really going on down at the border and experience the realities
of such a talked about topic. I also want to see all of the preparation pay off and provide my group with as great of an
experience as possible.
Ideal Birthday Cake: A yellow cake with peanut butter icing and strawberries


Name: Dave Slusarick, Leader
Major: Dual-enrollment student at Saint Mark Seminary and Gannon University where I am completing my second and final year of preparation for graduate studies at a four-year major seminary.
Hometown: Uniontown, PA
Past ABST Experience: Last year I attended the Detroit ABST and fell in love with with the Motor City and the urban farming movement! I applied to be an ABST leader this year because I believe strongly that the four pillars of ABST are important principles for intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth, and I want to help others see the value of these pillars, too.
Why I am Excited: I look forward to learning first-hand about the concerns of various populations along the U.S.-Mexico border. I also enjoy sampling food from different regions and cultures. 
Ideal Birthday Cake: My favorite dessert is pineapple upside-down cake, which, incidentally is a perfectly viable alternative to a traditional birthday cake.

 Now here are the amazing participants.

Name: Franklin Eduardo Castro Espinoza 
Major: Accounting Major and Criminal Justice Minor 
Hometown: Tegucigalpa, Honduras 
Past ABST: Our West Bayfront (May)
What I’m Excited About: I am excited to learn more about immigration because I want to understand what issues are being misinterpreted and are not being addressed properly. I also love helping people and serving others. 
Ideal Birthday Cake: vanilla cake 


Name: Rachel Kuchnicki
Major: Junior Physician Assistant Major 
Hometown: Pittsburgh PA. 
Past ABST: This is my first ABST
Why I am Excited: I’m so excited to learn as much as I can about the issues that people along the border face! 
Ideal Birthday Cake: My ideal birthday cake is an ice cream cake from Brusters with graham central station ice cream and vanilla cake.


Name: Sherin Puthenpurayil 
Major: I am a biology major in the LECOM dental program
Hometown: I’m from Pittsburgh, PA. 
Past ABST: This is my first ABST trip. 
Why am I Excited: I’m excited to learn about immigration since it is such a relevant and important topic. 
Ideal Birthday Cake: My ideal birthday cake would be any Black Forest cake.


Name: Luke Daghir
Major: Philosophy
Hometown: St. Mary's, Pa
Past ABST: 1st ABST
Why I am Excited: I am excited to learn on this trip and become a more thoughtful and respectful Catholic American.
Ideal Birthday Cake: Icecream Cake


Name: Clara Almeter
Major: Environmental Engineering
Hometown: Monroeville, PA
Past ABSTs: Guatemala was my first ABST, and Arizona will be my second
Why I am Excited: I’m really excited to just learn and grow on this trip. The whole preparation process has been so eye-opening and I know that this theme will carry through to our time in Arizona. I think the firsthand experience we will gain from this trip will be so valuable, especially in today’s day and age, so I’m excited to be open and to learn over the course of this ABST.
Ideal Birthday Cake: Carrot Cake


Name: Beth Kropf
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Newfane, New York
Past ABST: My first ABST!!
Why I am Excited: I’m really excited to be in the community with our group and with all of the people encounter. I look forward to the stories I am able to hear and the stories I can share.
Ideal Birthday Cake: Fav bday cake would easily be chocolate cake and lots of peanut butter frosting

Lastly, our amazing accompaniers.


Name: Keith Taylor, accompanier
Title: Gannon University President
Hometown: Schenectady, NY
Past ABST: 
  • Part Of The Solution Soup Kitchen Bronx NY
  • International Samaritan Honduras 
  • International Samaritan Haiti
  • Habitat for Humanity Newland NC 
  • The Mission of Friendship Yucatán Merida Mexico
  • Global Habitat Zambia
  • St Joseph House Erie PA
  • Navajo Nation AZ
Why I am Excited: I am excited to travel with such a great group of students to learn more and experience first-hand the environment and challenges of those living and working along our border with Mexico. Our impressions and perceptions of situations and people are often skewed by the media and second and third-hand reports of how things are for others. It will be a powerful week to be present with those living this experience every day and share what we can of ourselves together in this place. 
Ideal Birthday Cake: Carrot Cake


Name: Alli Cyphert, Accompanier
Title: Assistant Director, Center for Social Concerns
Hometown: Findlay, OH
Past ABST: I have been blessed to accompany 3 ABSTs during my time at Gannon! I’ve traveled with groups to:
-          Ndola, Zambia for an International Habitat for Humanity experience
-          Hamilton, Ontario with L’Arche Hamilton, Daybreak, and Toronto L’Arche communities
-          Merida, Mexico with the Diocese of Erie’s Mission of Friendship
Why I am Excited: I am looking forward to learning alongside a great group of students about an important and relevant issue going on in our nation. It’s my hope that we all are able to absorb information during our time in the Tucson area and bring back and share our experiences and the information learned with our local communities.
Ideal birthday cake: Pumpkin Pie

That's all we have for now. We will be updating this blog every day of our trip with stories, things we learn, and pictures to help everyone stay connected to our journey.

XOXO,
AZ ABST


Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2020 at 9:54 AM

    My best wishes to all of you who are participating in this Alternative Spring Break experience. I commend you for trading a relaxing/entertaining spring break for a “service experience,” which will challenge you and help you grow in many ways. As you proceed on this trip, I promise to keep you and the people whom you will serve in my prayers. I look forward to following your progress here on this blog. Be blessed and be a blessing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guac and Talk

Hello everyone! Welcome to Day 3 of our Arizona Border ABST trip.  We started off the day with donuts and headed to Casa Alitas, a migrant center in Tucson. We were greeted by Sara who explained to us what Casa Alitas strives to accomplish. Casa Alitas is a center that helps migrants who have recently crossed the US-Mexico border. They provide many important resources including shelter, food, transportation set-up, and can help migrants connect to sponsors if they have lost their original sponsor along the process. We gained insight into some of the political policy behind recent changes in immigration, in addition to the history of Casa Alitas, which essentially started overnight. In fact, the house that we are currently residing in is where the program first started and it has since grown into a huge center that is able to take in up to 180 guests at one time.  After getting some background information and going on a quick tour, we started our volunteer work for the day which
Post a Comment
Read more

20 Hours Later

We departed Gannon on a yellow school bus at 2:25am headed for Pittsburgh International Airport. It was cold, bitter cold in the early morning; however, the smiles of the teams (both AZ Border and Navajo) warmed up our hearts. Our ride south on I-79 was cold inside the bus as many of us had our eyes closed trying to sleep and never falling asleep. We were blessed with a safe trip as our bus driver did a wonderful job. Our flight was in the early morning out of Pittsburgh. As we flew west we were riding away from the eastern sunrise. In time the sun caught up to us and the Midwest was covered in a beautiful blanket of frost. The arrival into Phoenix thawed us out of the cold of Erie. It was sunny, very warm, and beautiful blue skies. We had a 40 minute delay to get off the flight which only enhanced the anticipation of beginning our ABST trip! As we exited the Phoenix airport we waited in line in a busing terminal for a bus to take us to a rental garage for our van. In the term
Post a Comment
Read more

Build Bridges Instead of Walls

¡Hola a todos!  Our day started really early since we had to drive to Nogales, AZ once again. Before  we actually hit the road, we had to pass through the Pio Decimo Center to pick up our great alumnus, John Lohse.  After driving for one hour, we arrived at Nogales Border Patrol where we were kindly greeted by three officers, one of which was Border Patrol Agent Sergio Leones Jr. who coordinated our experience. Once we signed in, we had a very thorough presentation about their job description and the responsibilities that come with it. They seize any kind of illegal contraband; monitor areas by using sensors, cameras, and tracking skills; protect wildlife and vegetation; and attend classrooms or meetings to inform the public about their duties and why life as a criminal is not worth it. Most importantly, they care about the safety and well-being of people.  We briefly saw their command center, and afterwards separated into two groups to drive by the border wall. The officers
Post a Comment
Read more