College of Mount Saint Vincent Students Present on Service Learning Trip to Guatemala May 17, 2012

RIVERDALE, NY (05/01/2012)(readMedia)-- College of Mount Saint Vincent students Kristen Conti, Kaitlyn Librero, Karen O'Connor and Paola Soler will participate in the College of Mount Saint Vincent Student Research and Service Symposium at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 17th in Smith Hall, Founders Hall, on the College's Riverdale campus.

At the Symposium, they will present on their service learning trip to Guatemala, which took place from March 11-18, 2012.

"The trip to Guatemala was life changing," says Massapequa native and CMSV senior nursing major Kristen Conti. "Seeing the simple ways the people live and realizing how lucky we are at home puts a new perspective on your everyday."

She and classmates Kaitlyn Libraro, a senior nursing major from Malverne, N.Y.; Karen O'Connor, a senior nursing major; and Paola Soler, a sophomore nursing major from New York, N.Y., spent their Spring Break giving inoculations, weighing babies, and attending to patient's health needs in Guatemala. Director of Campus Ministry Sr. Cecilia Harriendorf accompanied the students to Guatemala.

Other activities the students completed during the trip included delivering presentations on the history of women's and children's and visiting the Sister Barbara Ford Peace Center in Santa Cruz. The students also found time to shop at a colorful Mayan market at one of Central America's most beautiful places, Lake Atitlan, and spent time with Guatemala's children.

"Our trip to Guatemala will forever be an unforgettable experience," says Ms. Soler. "The lives that we touched in turn touched ours."

The College of Mount Saint Vincent Student Research and Service Symposium is held to recognize students who have engaged in significant research and service initiatives, as well as the faculty and staff who serve as their mentors. Students will have the opportunity to present and highlight their recent research and service accomplishments to the campus community along with College benefactors, peers, parents, and local guidance counselors and principals.

About the College of Mount Saint Vincent

The College of Mount Saint Vincent is an academically excellent, authentically inclusive, Catholic and ecumenical liberal arts college. It combines a strong core curriculum with a full array of majors in the liberal arts and selected professional fields of study, including accounting, business administration, education, and nursing. Through its School of Professional and Continuing Studies, the College extends its primary undergraduate mission by offering high quality graduate studies in business, education and nursing and an array of undergraduate and certificate programs serving non-traditional students. Mount Saint Vincent is located on a pastoral campus in New York City, with easy access to all the educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities that the City affords.