Robert Holden Jr., of East Longmeadow, participates in Clark U. Athletics Service Learning Trip to Guatemala

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Clark University sophomore Robert Holden Jr. participated in the first Clark Athletics Service Learning Trip.

WORCESTER, MA (01/29/2014)(readMedia)-- Robert A. Holden Jr., of East Longmeadow, was one of 11 Clark University student-athletes who returned to campus last week after spending his winter break in Loma Linda, a rural village in Guatemala, participating in the first-ever Clark Athletics Service Learning Trip (CAST).

The nine-day international service trip was the brainchild of former men's tennis captain and current graduate student Harris Rollinger, B.A. '13, M.P.A. '14, who received funding and support from the University, Clark Athletics and Seven Hills Global Outreach (SHGO), a Worcester-based non-profit organization that supports humanitarian efforts in more than eight developing nations. Rollinger used the Thomas M. Dolan '62 Outstanding Service Award he received last fall to start what he hopes will become an annual opportunity to allow Clark athletes to practice first-hand the University's mission of global citizenship.

Prior to the trip, the student-athletes partnered with Real Futbol Training and the Little Grasshoppers, who organized soccer equipment drives to collect sports equipment and school supplies to bring to Loma Linda.

While in Loma Linda, Holden and the other students spent four days leading more than 90 children ages 4-13 in sports development activities designed to promote individual development, cultural sharing, education and team building. He also spent time helping David Jordan D.H.A. M.P.A., president and CEO of the Seven Hills Foundation, who also serves as an adjunct professor at Clark, apply research he collected on Loma Linda's ecotourism business from a previous trip. Jordan teaches Social Entrepreneurship at Clark; he has taken more than 100 Clark students on similar trips to help developing communities in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Bangladesh, Kenya, Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil and New Orleans over the past four years.

According to Professor Jordan, trips such as these "get to the core values of Clark and certainly of the Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) initiative in terms of a liberal education."

"Students come back changed...transformed, and inspired about what power they have in changing the world, one small piece at a time," said Jordan.

"This group of students took action and for the nine days we were in Guatemala, they made Clark's motto, 'Challenge Convention, Change Our World,' a reality," said Rollinger.

Before, throughout and after the trip to Guatemala, the students posted profiles of participants, photos and trip updates on their trip blog.

Holden is a member of the Class of 2016 at Clark; he majors in biology. He is a member of the men's lacrosse team, serves on the Clark University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and Green Athletes. He was named Rookie of Year for lacrosse his freshman year.

"This trip opened my eyes up to the vast problems of the world. It also reinforced the idea that money isn't happiness," he said. "The people of Loma Linda, Guatemala, had so little, yet they were the nicest, most kind hearted people I have ever met in my life."

The student is a 2012 graduate of East Longmeadow High School. He is the son of Robert and Donna Holden.

The CAST group will host a Pictorial Journey and reception on Thursday, Feb. 20, from 6:30-8 p.m. in the John and Kay Bassett Admissions Center, located at 1 Maywood Street, Worcester. The event is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University's motto: Challenge convention. Change our world.

www.clarku.edu

RELATED LINKS:

The trip, as featured on the Clark Athletics webpage: http://www.clarkathletics.com/News/2013-14/CAST_Release

A Boston Globe story about the trip: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2014/01/16/lexington-harris-rollinger-clark-athletes-lend-helping-hand-guatemala/W02Xmg0THrk5HCc34fzniJ/story.html?s_campaign=8315